Miner Basketball Makes Big Strides in Year Two Under UTEP Head Coach Rodney Terry

UTEP Miners

2019-20 RECAP

Year two of the Rodney Terry era saw tremendous team improvement, individual accolades, and a foundation laid for a bright future for Miner Basketball. The Miners will return an exciting core group to the floor in 2020-21, including leading scorers Bryson Williams and Souley Boum.

Finishing with a record of 17-15, the Miners recorded their first winning season since 2015-16, including a mark of 13-4 in the Don Haskins Center, more than doubling their overall win total and Conference USA win total from a year ago. The Miners nine-game win increase from 2018-19 to 2019-20 was the largest win improvement of any program in C-USA.

On Nov. 12, the Miners beat NM State to end a nine-game losing streak to the Aggies, as the last time the Miners had previously beaten NM State was Nov. 22, 2014. The Miner defense held the Aggies to 50 points, the lowest point total in a game between the Miners and Aggies since Nov. 29, 1983.

UTEP defeated longtime rival the New Mexico Lobos on Nov. 19. It was the first time UTEP had beaten NM State and UNM in the same season since 2008-09, while it was the first home sweep in the Sun City since 1997.

After beating 2020 MEAC runner-Up North Carolina A&T and 2020 Big West Champion UC Irvine in El Paso on Dec. 16 and 17, respectively, the Miners claimed their first WestStar Bank Don Haskins Sun Bowl Invitational Championship since 2014.

On Jan. 15, 2020, the Miners came back from 24 points down against UTSA to capture the biggest comeback win in UTEP Basketball History, while it tied the 24^th largest comeback in NCAA History. The Miners defeated Roadrunner 80-77 in overtime at the Haskins Center.

The Miners finished conference play strong, winning four out of their last five games, including road victories at Rice and Middle Tennessee.

Forward Bryson Williams was selected as an All-C-USA first team selection, the first Miner since Vince Hunter in 2014-15 to receive the prestigious honor and only the fifth Miner in C-USA history to be selected. Williams was also named to the NABC District 11 first team, being the first Miner since 2011 (Randy Culpepper [first team]) to earn a spot on the All-NABC team. Williams added three C-USA Player of the Week honors to his resume, while he recorded a trio of 30-plus point games, and out-hustled his opponents for five double-doubles.

The Miners ranked no. 54 in the country (out of 350 D1 Teams) in free-throw shooting percentage, improving from 66.1 percent the previous season (2018-19) to 74.9 percent from the charity stripe following the 2019-20 campaign. Guard Souley Boum was the leading free-throw shooter in C-USA and ranked no. 21 nationally with an 87.8% mark from the foul line. Boum's free-throw percentage was also ranked no. 2 on the program's single season list. His free-throw percentage and 122 made free throws were also the best by a UTEP sophomore in program history.

The Miner defense was ranked in good company statistically, as it was the no. 81-rated defense in the country out of 350 Division I Teams (NCAA Rankings). UTEP ranked no. 49 in country in three-point field goal percentage defense, and was fifth out of 14 teams in C-USA defense (points allowed & field-goal percentage defense).

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