UTEP shows improvement, but falls to UC Irvine 62-57
The UTEP Miners lost an eighth consecutive game on Thursday , 62-57 to UC Irvine, but came out of it feeling more optimistic heading into the holiday break.
That’s because the Miners got after it on the defensive end, implementing a zone that forced the Anteaters into 36 percent shooting. And for the second straight game, UTEP went down to the wire with an opponent in the WestStar Bank Don Haskins Sun Bowl Invitational, only to come up just a bit short.
The Miners finished in last place in their home tournament, but Coach Floyd said he still feels good about his squad moving forward.
“I feel better about us tonight than I did coming into the weekend,” Floyd said. “We couldn’t guard anybody coming into this weekend, and back-to-back games we at least gave ourselves a chance to play on the other end because we were better defensively. We will continue to grow offensively. The other reason I feel better about us now is because Matt Wilms and Paul Thomas had been no-shows going into the weekend, and we got some plays from those two guys.”
The Miners will take a short holiday break before wrapping up the non-conference portion of their schedule with a game at NM State on Dec. 30. That will begin a string of four consecutive road games, including three in a row to tip off Conference USA play.
