UTEP Athletics

UTEP to Tangle With Texas Southern on Wednesday

11/15/2022 3:14:00 PM

UTEP GAME NOTES

EL PASO, Texas – The UTEP Miners return to the Don Haskins Center on Wednesday at 7 p.m. to host Texas Southern in the first part of a Texas two-step this week.

UTEP (2-0) is looking to start 3-0 for the fourth straight season against a Tigers (0-3) team that is searching for its first win of the new campaign under first-year head coach Vernette Skeete.

GAME COVERAGE
Fans can watch all the action on CUSA.tv with Mando Medina on the call. Medina will be entering his second season behind the mic and will broadcast all home games that air on CUSA.tv. Live stats will be available on the UTEP SIDEARM Stats Portal.

SCOUTING TEXAS SOUTHERN
Facing a gauntlet in the non-conference portion of the schedule, Texas Southern has started 0-3 with games still set to be played at UTEP, Texas A&M, Ole Miss, Florida State, Arizona and UCF along with home contests with Rice and Tulsa. Last season, the Tigers responded following an 0-7 start which saw the team drop every non-conference game to finish 11-15 on the year. Guard Andriana Avent was named to the All-SWAC Preseason First Team and has averaged 17.0 points and 3.0 rebounds over the first three games this season. Donterria Brown averages 9.0 points and 6.3 rebounds per game and is another starter to watch. Off the bench, Taniya Lawson has made an impact with 8.7 points and 3.0 rebounds per night. Vernette Skeete, formerly an assistant at Texas A&M, is in her first season on the sideline for Texas Southern. She also has experience at Illinois, Marquette and Miami at the Division I level.

ALL-TIME SERIES VS. TEXAS SOUTHERN
Wednesday marks the 11th all-time meeting between UTEP and Texas Southern. To this point, the Miners have posted a 7-3 advantage head-to-head against the Tigers, including a 4-1 record in El Paso. The most recent meeting was the fourth game of season one under Kevin Baker, a game in which the Miners won 65-55 as part of a 4-0 start.

ALL ABOUT ADHEL
After earning the first start of her collegiate career last Sunday at Kansas City, Adhel Tac took full advantage by contributing career highs with 11 points and 10 rebounds on the way to her first double-double as a Miner. Over the first two contests, Tac leads the team with 12 rebounds. Tac, who transferred to UTEP from TCU prior to last season, was a three-star prospect heading into college according to ESPN and Prospects Nation after starring at Sachse High School. She was high school teammates with current UTEP teammate Avery Crouse.

JACKSON FORCING TURNOVERS
It has been an impressive start to the season for North Texas transfer Jazion Jackson, who ranks 14th in the nation with 4.5 steals per game. Jackson started the year with a career-high six steals against New Orleans before tacking on three more in a road win at Kansas City. In addition to the defensive performance, she also has 10 assists on the year, led by tying a career high with eight in the opener against the Privateers. The start to the season is a continuation of what Jackson had done with the Mean Green over the past three seasons, as she led the team with 87 assists and ranked third with 33 steals in 2021-22.

ANOTHER STRONG START
UTEP has strung together six straight seasons with 2-0 starts, including three consecutive 3-0 marks to begin campaigns. The Miners have begun the year 3-0 a total of 12 times in program history. The 10-0 start by the 2011-12 team still stands as the best start to a season. That group would go on to finish 29-4 on the way to advancing to the NCAA Tournament.

SHARING THE ROCK
Impressive ball movement has helped lead the Miners to averaging 75.5 points per game over the first two non-conference affairs. UTEP sits 31st nationally and first in C-USA with a 1.52 assist to turnover ratio and has averaged 17.5 assists per game. The assists average is a large leap over last season when the Miners averaged 11.8 per game. Jazion Jackson leads UTEP with 10 assists.

FORCING THE ISSUE
Persistent defensive pressure by the Miners has caused a host of issues for the opposition this season. The two opponents this season have averaged 27 turnovers a game facing off against the pressing UTEP defense. The Miners rank eighth nationally with a +15.5 turnover margin and are 15th in turnovers forced per game.

UNBEATEN TEAMS
In NCAA Division I women's basketball, 114 teams are undefeated as of Nov. 14. The Miners are on of seven C-USA teams without a blemish on their record.

TRIPLE TIME
The Miners have drained 14 3-pointers this season, connecting on 36.8 percent of their attempts from beyond the arc. Grace Alvarez, Eliana Cabral and Avery Crouse are leading the way with three triples each.

SHOOT IT SOLEIL
Freshman Soleil Montrose came in off the bench at Kansas City and wasted little time making her mark, picking up an assist and scoring five points in her first five minutes of action. She would conclude her day with 10 points and two steals over the course of 15 minutes on the floor.

CROUSE GETS TEAMMATES INVOLVED
Fourth-year Miner Avery Crouse dished out five assists in the win at Kansas City. She has compiled five assists in a game three times in her career, with the total standing as her career high.

N'YAH MAKES DEBUT
Oklahoma State transfer N'Yah Boyd made her Miner debut at Kansas City, tallying eight points with seven rebounds in 26 minutes. Boyd is returning to C-USA after playing for North Texas from 2019-21, seeing action in 50 games with 38 starts. Entering the season, Boyd had accumulated 601 points, 207 assists, 212 rebounds and 83 steals during her collegiate career.

BAKER NEARS 200 WINS
Kevin Baker has 197 wins between his time at UT Tyler, Angelo State and UTEP. With the Miners, Baker has compiled 75 wins over the course of his first six seasons on the sideline.

UNDEFEATED WHEN HITTING 80
UTEP has never lost when scoring 80 or more points in a game under Kevin Baker. Since his first season in 2017-18, the Miners are 24-0 when eclipsing 80 points. The program has not lost a game when tallying 80 since Jan. 12, 2017, a stretch of 26 games.

LEADING AT THE HALF
Last season, the Miners went 11-2 when taking the lead into the break and are 2-0 this season after jumping out to a 36-30 advantage over Kansas City on Sunday afternoon.

DEFENSE LEADS TO WINS
UTEP is 37-13 when limiting the opposition to 60 points or less under Kevin Baker. The Miners have added two wins to the total already this season.

LIVING AT THE LINE
Last season, UTEP made 430 free throws, ranking second in the conference and 41st in the country. Expect the Miners to once again get to the line plenty, with multiple driving options throughout the roster who will be aggressive in getting to the basket. To this point, that has held true, with UTEP attempting 25.5 free throws per game, which is 36th nationally.

ROAD OPENER SUCCESS CONTINUES
Including the win at Kansas City, UTEP is now 4-0 in true road openers over the past four season, knocking off KC (2022), Texas State (2021), NM State (2020) and NM State (2019).

WHAT'S NEXT
UTEP remains home for a Saturday tilt against Texas State. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.

HOME TICKET INFO
Tickets start at $8 for regular season games while groups of 10 can purchase tickets for $5 a piece. Fans can buy single-game tickets and season tickets (starting as low as $65) for the new campaign at the Eisenberg Family Ticket Office by calling (915) 747-UTEP, visiting UTEPMiners.com/tickets, by emailing tickets@utep.edu, or by stopping by in person at 500 W. University Ave., 79968 (Monday thru Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.).

Help support UTEP student-athletes by making a gift to the Miner Athletic Club.

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For complete coverage of UTEP women's basketball, be sure to follow the Miners on social media at @UTEPWBB (Twitter), @utepwbb (Instagram) and on Facebook or visit the official home of UTEP Athletics at UTEPMiners.com.

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