The Miners take on UC-Riverside at the Don

The UTEP Miners took on UC-Riverside at the Don Haskins Center.

Though they were down star point guard Evan Gilyard III they still found it in them to put up numbers.

Efe Odigie, Nigel Hawkins and Jordan Lathom came up big for the Miners in the game.

At the half UTEP was up 22-17 leaving the Highlanders within striking distance.

Odigie had 26 points but put himself in the double double category with the 11 rebounds he also picked up.

Jordan Lathom’s 14 points helped push the Miners to a 68 – 56 win.

Afterwards coach and his players talked about their defense.

Coach Terry said, “We knew coming in they were a confident team with a win against Pepperdine. That we were going to play a team that was ready to play. The huge challenge was for us to continue to build out there. To continue and work and understand how important it is to put consecutive stops together.”

Efe Odigie added, “I feel like we worked on our defense so much especially in like post area defense, guarding the post, walling up and guard without fouling. Coach Terry, like emphasises that in practice.”