Men’s Hoops: UTEP starts hot but fades in loss to UAB
The UTEP men’s basketball team got off to a 13-2 start on the road at UAB, but the Blazers would roar back and claim a 76-63 win.
Evan Gilyard led the Miners with 25 points and helped UTEP jump out to that big early advantage.
The Miners still managed to take a three-point lead into the half, but UAB would outscore UTEP by 16 in the second half.
“We didn’t start the second half the right way and we really didn’t close the first right and gave up a bad play to end the half,” UTEP Head Coach Rodney Terry said. “Then, we weren’t ready in the first four minutes of the second half for whatever reason at the level of intensity you have to have on the road. We let a couple 50-50 balls get away from us, and we gave them some easy baskets.”
UAB’s Lewis Sullivan racked up an 18-point, 10-rebound double-double in the victory to help his team snap a two-game losing streak in conference play.
UTEP freshman forward Efe Odigie also recorded a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds while fellow freshman Nigel Hawkins chipped in 17 points of his own.
The Miners fell to 1-4 in Conference USA play and 6-10 overall while UAB is now 3-2 in C-USA action and 11-7 on the season.
The Miners travel to Middle Tennessee on Saturday in the hopes of securing their first road win of the season.
