UTEP Men’s Basketball Upended At Utah Valley, 89-60
OREM, Utah (KVIA) -- The UTEP men’s basketball team dug itself a 15-0 hole five minutes into the contest and could never fully recover in an eventual 89-60 setback at Utah Valley Saturday afternoon.
The Miners (1-1) managed to get within six (18-12) midway through the stanza only to have the Wolverines (2-0) respond with a 23-8 surge to dim the rally hopes. The deficit was 15 (43-28) at the break, and the Orange and Blue couldn’t make any significant dent at it over the final 20 minutes of action. UTEP was hindered by off shooting day (15-57, 26.3 percent) while allowing UVU to fill up 52.1 percent (25-48) from the floor.
The Miners took care of business at the charity stripe (25-29, 86.2 percent), registered 10 steals while forcing 19 turnovers. UTEP also knocked down five triples (5-15, 33.3 percent). All of that, however, wasn’t enough to compensate for the shortcomings in the other areas.
Devon Barnes (13 points) led the way offensively, followed by Otis Frazier III (11 points). There were nine courtesy of Ahamad Bynum, a career-best eight from AJ Thomas and seven by Corey Camper Jr. Kevin Kalu snagged a team-high eight rebounds.
Dominick Nelson (21 points, eight boards) paced four Wolverine players in double figures for scoring, helping them improve to 45-11 at home since the start of the 2020-21 campaign.
“That (game) resembles nothing about UTEP basketball,” head coach Joe Golding said. “I don’t know what it was. We got our butt kicked. Give Utah Valley credit, they deserve it all. It’s ultimately on me. I’m the head coach. We’ve got to get a lot of things fixed in a hurry.”
The home side jumped on the Miners early, securing a 15-0 advantage (14:53, 1H) before Frazier III knocked down a pair of free throws to get UTEP on the board. UVU split two free throws to go out by 14 (16-2), but a 10-2 push allowed the Orange and Blue to get withing single figures (18-12) with 10:35 to play in the half.
Bynum buried a triple for UTEP’s first field goal of the contest. Kalu then had an old-fashioned 3-point play before Barnes stole an inbounds pass, which eventually led to a lay-up for the Tarleton State transfer. After Bynum was fouled on a trey attempt, he made two of the three tosses to cap the sequence.
The home side regrouped and struck back with a 23-8 run to rip back control of the contest at 41-20 (1:49, 1H). The Miners countered immediately, tallying eight straight points in a span of 53 seconds to whittle the differential down to 13 (41-28) and force a timeout by the Wolverines. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Barnes and a pair of free throws courtesy of Frazier III powered the run. A late lay-up from UVU allowed it to carry a 43-28 advantage into the locker room, with the game-opening 15-0 surge looming large for UTEP.
The Orange and Blue continued to battle in the second half but were unable to get back into the tilt.
UTEP returns home to play host to DII member UTPB on Tuesday (Nov. 12) at 7 p.m. MT. Jon Teicher (44th year) and Steve Yellen (22nd year) will be on the call on "The Home of UTEP Basketball" 600 ESPN El Paso and the UTEP Miners App.
It will also be streamed on ESPN+ (subscription required), with Andy Morganand former Miner assistant coach Bobby Braswell describing the action. For tickets, please visit www.UTEPMiners.com/tickets or call (915) 747-UTEP. Following that contest, the Orange and Blue won't be back inside the Don Haskins Center until Dec. 7, with a road game at UCSB (Nov. 20) and three tilts in as many days as part of the Ball Dawgs Classic in Las Vegas, Nev., from Nov. 25-27.
Single game and season tickets remain on sale. They can be purchased through the Eisenberg Family Ticket Office by calling (915) 747-UTEP, emailing tickets@utep.edu, visiting www.UTEPMiners.com/Tickets, or in person at 201 Glory Road (Brumbelow Building, UTEP Campus), Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Help support UTEP student-athletes by making a gift to the Miner Athletic Club. Visit givingto.utep.edu/mac today!
