UTEP hits the road again for a test at Marshall

The UTEP men’s basketball team has a chance to accomplish a couple of “firsts” this season if they can beat Marshall on the road Thursday.

A win would give UTEP back-to-back victories for the first time this season and it would also mark the team’s first victory on the road.

The Miners are catching Marshall at a low point this season. The Thundering Herd have lost their last three games including their most recent contest at Southern Miss, which was a 101-51 blowout.

But UTEP is expecting Marshall to be hungry to get back on track and resemble the team that started C-USA play with five straight wins.

“Our preparation has already started toward a really good Marshall team, and a team that was 5-0 going into last week and in first place. So, we’re going to have a huge challenge,” said UTEP head coach Rodney Terry.

The Miners are coming off a close home win against Charlotte that helped them improve their conference record to 2-6.

Now, the challenge is to finally breakthrough away from home. Four of the next six games for the Miners will be on the road.

“And for us right now, it’s simple. It’s four minutes by four minutes,” said Terry. “We try to win every four-minute game.”

Though the Miners are happy with their recent victory, they do know there are a few things they need to clean up before their next game.

“We’ve got to do a great job of taking care of the ball, rebounding. We’ve still got to do a better job on the glass in terms of rebounding,” said Terry. “But other than that I think we’ve improved in a number of different areas. So, those are two glaring areas that still can take our game to another level if we did those two things.”

After Thursday’s tilt at Marshall the Miners will play Saturday at Western Kentucky.