Miners give up more than 90 points for second time this season as they fall 91-70 to DePaul

EL PASO, Texas -- The UTEP Miners were back in action after a week off since their expected win over Northern New Mexico, but their 25 point loss to New Mexico State still fresh in their minds and the Blue Demons posed another tough test.

The Miners looked up for it early, taking an 11 point lead after forced turnovers and steals but the Blue Demons found a way back in and went into the half up 39-33.

From there UTEP didn't get another look in as the Blue Demons used a 16-4 spurt over the first four minutes of the second half to take a commanding 55-37 lead.

The Miners fell 91-70 after DePaul made 14 from long range compared to the Miners 5.

“We just can’t sustain it (long stretches of quality play),” Joe Golding said. “I don’t know if it’s conditioning, getting comfortable. We turned them over eight times in the first 10 minutes and then once in the last 10. We took some really, really bad shots and some quick shots that we talked about the whole time that lead to transition at the 3-point line. They ended up with 14 3-pointers. We are going to keep learning the lesson the hard way until we get it figured out.”

Both Tae Hardy (16 points) and Mario McKinney Jr. (12 points) scored in double digits for UTEP and the team as a whole shot over 48% from the floor.

The Miners fall to 0-3 on the road and 6-3 in total.

UTEP have a week off before they open conference play at home against LA Tech at 6 p.m. MT on Dec. 17.