Vince Hunter on his future, UTEP Athletic Dept tweet about his NBA prospects

Vince Hunter’s future at UTEP isn’t clear.

One reason it looks like Hunter might be leaving UTEP for a shot at the pros is his tweet on Sunday that some interpret as possibly being a “goodbye.”

When it was announced UTEP would be playing Murray State in the NIT, Hunter tweeted ,”Blessed and happy to be playing another game in a Utep uniform.”

About 30 minutes later, he tweeted he was blessed to play another game with seniors C.J. Cooper, Julian Washburn, and Cedric Lang.

ABC-7 caught up with Hunter outside the Foster Stevens Center at UTEP Wednesday morning and asked him if he’d be returning for his junior year.

“No comment,” Hunter responded. “I’m just not trying to talk about it right now.”

ABC-7 asked Hunter again if he would be returning, Again, Hunter said “no comment.”

“I’m just trying to get rest, get off the plane. I’m not trying to answer (any) questions about anything,” Hunter told ABC-7.

The deadline for college underclassmen to declare for the NBA Draft is April 26. A player that declares for the draft can still withdraw his name later.

Adding to the drama, Hunter found himself inadvertently involved in a Twitter controversy on the official UTEP Athletics Twitter account Tuesday.

After UTEP’s 81-66 loss to Murray State in the NIT Tuesday night, Jeff Darby, UTEP Senior Associate Athletic Director used the official UTEP Athletics Twitter account to tweet, “Talked to the 13 NBA scouts here and the consensus is Vince Hunter lacks the perimeter game to play at the next level. #minerstrong”

The tweet was not signed by Darby but late Tuesday night Darby took to the Official UTEP Athletics Twitter account to take responsibility for tweeting the since-deleted tweet and apologized for it.

“The tweet about Vince Hunter earlier this evening was intended to be posted to a personal account. It does not reflect the opinion of UTEP Athletics and the UTEP Basketball Staff. I apologize to Vince, coach Floyd, his staff and the athletic department. – Jeff Darby, Senior Associate AD,” said in a series of tweets late Tuesday night.

Another tweet from the official UTEP Athletics Twitter account during the NIT game was critical of Hunter protesting calls against him and stated he should just play.

ABC-7 asked Hunter about the tweets and if he saw them.

“I’m not even going to comment about that,” Hunter said.

Hunter had 11 points and 11 rebounds against Murray State to give him his 13th triple double of the season.