Game Notes In PDF Format

OPENING TIP
The UTEP men's basketball team will christen the 2021-22 season and embark on the Joe Golding era when it plays host to Division II foe Western New Mexico at 7 p.m. MT on Tuesday (Nov. 9). It is the 101st season of Miner hoops, with a return to normalcy after the Covid-19 pandemic halted the 2019-20 season early and hindered the 2020-21 campaign. Jon Teicher (41st year) and Steve Yellen (19th year) will be on the call, which can be followed on 600 ESPN El Paso, the UTEP Miners App and CUSA TV (subscription required). For tickets, fans may call the Eisenberg Family Ticket Office at (915) 747-UTEP, email tickets@utep.edu, or visit www.UTEPMiners.com/tickets or in person (Brumbelow Building on UTEP campus, 201 Glory Road) Monday thru Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
 
SERIES HISTORY: UTEP Leads, 27-5: LAST MEETING: at UTEP 87, WNMU 58 (12/28/2010)
UTEP is 27-5 all time against Western New Mexico, with the most-recent meeting resulting in a 87-58 UTEP win at home on Dec. 28, 2010. The Miners have won 12 straight. The two programs have an extensive history that dates all the way back to the 1928-29 campaign. The two sides split a pair of contests that season, including a 16-14 Miner victory in the first meeting.
 
TALKING OPENERS
UTEP is 74-26 all time in season openers, aided by winning 55 of the past 60. The Miners are 37-4 when opening the year at the Don Haskins Center. UTEP has also won nine straight season-opening contests. The last setback in a campaign lidlifter was under Tim Floyd in 2011-12.  Tuesday's game marks the 15th consecutive campaign that the Orange and Blue are tipping off the season in El Paso.
 
STREAKING AT HOME IN NON CONFERENCE
UTEP has won 12 consecutive home games in nonconference action. Six straight and nine of the 12 during the surge have come by double figures. Overall UTEP has a +15 margin (77-62) in those contest. The last non league loss came at the hands of Norfolk State, 75-62, on Dec. 21, 2018.
 
JUMPERS
-   This is the 101st season of UTEP men's basketball, with the start date of Nov. 9 ranking as the third-earliest in program history. The Miners will have 17 home games and 13 road contests before the C-USA Championships (March 8-12, 2022).
-   The Miners return four starters (Jamal Bieniemy, Souley Boum, Keonte Kennedy and Tydus Verhoeven) and eight lettermen overall. Other returning lettermen are Christian Agnew, Cam Clardy, Gilles Dekoninck and Ze'Rik Onyema. Emmanuel White, who redshirted, is also back.
-   UTEP has six newcomers in the fold in the form of Kezza Giffa, Alfred Hollins, Kevin Kalu, Bonke Maring, Jorell Saterfield and Jamari Sibley.
 -  The Miners bring back four of their five leading scorers from 2020-21 in the form of Souley Boum (18.8 ppg), Keonte Kennedy (8.6 ppg), Jamal Bieniemy (8.6 ppg) and Christian Agnew (6.1 ppg).
-   Tuesday's game is the first of six in the month of November, with four of them coming at home.
-   Overall there are 12 nonconference games on the docket, including match-ups with both New Mexico and NM State. The Miners also play at Kansas, in addition to having four games at home as part of multi-team events or invitationals.
 
GET TO KNOW WESTERN NEW MEXICO
Division II Western New Mexico went 0-11 last year during a Covid-shortened season. The Mustangs enter this season with renewed hope under second-year head coach Zane Gibson, who is a 2014 grad of Middle Tennessee. WNMU battled before falling in an exhibition at Grand Canyon, 85-59, on Oct. 30. In the contest the Mustangs were paced by Olamide Pedersen's double-double (12 points, 13 rebounds). Robert Banks (nine points), Jordan Doss (eight points) and Joshuwan Johnson (seven points) also got after it offensively. Tony Avalos is the returning leader for the team in points per game (11.4), assists per game (2.4) and steals per game (1.6). Pedersen led the way for the unit in 2020-21 in rebounding (6.1 rpg) and blocks (1.1 blocks per game). The game against the Miners will be designated as regular season for UTEP and exhibition for WNMU. Western New Mexico is a public university that was founded in 1893 in Silver City, N.M., under the name of the New Mexico Normal College, with a current enrollment of more than 3,500 in present day. Athletically it competes in the Lone Star Conference, which it joined in 2016-17. Notable WNMU alumni include the late American poet Kenneth Wayne Brewer, Tammie Jo Shults, who was a US Navy F/A 18 aviator and Richard Angulo, who played in the NFL with Jacksonville and Chicago.
 
GOLDING ERA BEGINS
Joe Golding embarks on his first season with UTEP, and as the 20th head coach in program history. He is the eighth head coach for the Miners since legendary Hall of Fame Coach Don Haskins retired following the 1998-99 season. Golding is 158-144 in his 11th season as a collegiate head coach, with the first 10 years at Abilene Christian. He led the Wildcats to the past two NCAA Tournaments played, including a stunning upset as a 14-seed of third-seeded Texas in the first round of the 2021 Big Dance.
 
LOOKING TO JOIN AN EXCLUSIVE GROUP
First-year head coach Joe Golding is looking to be part of an exclusive group at UTEP as heads into the 2021-22 campaign. Of the previous 19 head coaches at UTEP, only three have put together a winning season in their first year on the sidelines in the Sun City. Don Haskins became the first when he directed the Miners to a mark of 18-6 in 1961-62. Doc Sadler (27-8, 2004-05) and Tim Floyd (25-10, 2010-11) also achieved the feat. Overall the prior 19 head coaches have combined to forge an average record of 9-13 in their first year with UTEP.
 
EXPERIENCED STAFF
The Miners have an experienced staff on the sidelines for the 2021-22 season, each of whom are in their first year in the Sun City. Between head coach Joe Golding (22 years), associate head coach Jeremy Cox (30 years) and assistant coaches Butch Pierre (37 years) and Earl Boykins (eight years), the Miner coaching staff has a combined 97 years of experience at coaches at 26 different stops along the ways at varying levels of competition. Boykins is the least experienced in terms of coaching, but he's the most accomplished on the court after playing 12 seasons in the NBA.
 
PRESEASON HONORS
Souley Boum was tabbed a Preseason All-Conference honoree, it was announced before the season by the Conference USA office. A 2021 All C-USA third team member, Boum ranked third in C-USA in scoring (18.8 ppg) and fifth in the league in total points (450). He also paced the conference and was 15th in the country with 130 made free throws. Boum knocked down his free throws at a rate of 81.2 percent, which was good enough for eighth in C-USA. He also led UTEP in steals (34) and dished out 60 assists. Boum set career highs in points (34) and assists (11) versus Sul Ross State. He scored 24 points and pulled down a career-high 12 rebounds in a win against LA Tech. The explosive scorer poured in 28 points, aided by a career-best 15 made free throws, in a win against FIU. He scored 20-plus points in five consecutive games from Jan. 22-Feb. 5, averaging 22.6 ppg during the hot streak. Boum buried a career-high six 3-pointers to help him finish with 23 points in a victory Charlotte.
 
PRESEASON PREMONITIONS
UTEP was predicted to finish 10th in Conference USA, according to the preseason poll that was announced prior to the season by the league office. UAB (190 points) was slated first, followed by LA Tech (second-184 points), WKU (third-162 points), Marshall (fourth-147 points), Old Dominion (fifth-130 points), North Texas (sixth-124 points), Charlotte (seventh-110 points), Rice (eighth-104 points), Florida Atlantic (ninth-84 points), UTEP (10th-82 points), UTSA (11th-48 points), Southern Miss (12th-42 points), FIU (13th-36 points) and Middle Tennessee (14th-28 points).
 
LOOKING TO REGAIN WINNING WAYS IN C-USA
UTEP enters the 2021-22 season in search of its first winning record in Conference USA play since 2017 when the Miners went 12-6 in the league to finish tied for third. That year capped a run of five straight seasons with winning marks in conference action, the longest since 11 straight such efforts under Don Haskins from 1980-90.
 
UP NEXT
UTEP heads up I-10 to battle longtime rival NM State at 7 p.m. MT Saturday (Nov. 13). Steve Kaplowitz will be on the call, which can be followed on 600 ESPN El Paso, the UTEP Miners App.