Game Notes In PDF Format

OPENING TIP
The UTEP men's basketball team (0-0) will open the 103rd season in program history when it welcomes Division III member McMurry (0-0) to the Don Haskins Center at 7 p.m. MT on Monday (Nov. 6). The contest is part of a doubleheader with the UTEP women's basketball team, which plays host to Western New Mexico at 4 p.m. MT. For as little as $20, fans can attend both games. For more information, please visit www.UTEPMiners.com/tickets or call (915) 747-UTEP. Jon Teicher (43rd year) and Steve Yellen (21st year) will be on the call on "The Home of UTEP Basketball" 600 ESPN El Paso. It will also be streamed on ESPN+ (subscription required), with Mando Medina and former Miner Hooper Vint describing the action.
 
TALKING OPENERS
UTEP is 75-27 all time in season openers, aided by claiming 56 of the past 62. The Miners had a 10-game winning streak halted last season when they were upended at No. 12 Texas, 72-57, on Nov. 5, 2022. That contest also stopped a 15-year streak of the Orange and Blue beginning the year at home. UTEP is 1-1 in the situation under head coach Joe Golding, with the setback at Texas and an 85-57 victory against Western New Mexico in 2021-22.
 
DI EXPERIENCE
UTEP has ample DI experience across its roster, with a combined 454 games played (210 starts) among the Miners as of the beginning of the 2023-24 season. Calvin Solomon leads with way with 114 appearances (88 starts).
 
STAYING HOME EARLY
UTEP is playing four straight home games to begin the season, something it hasn't done since it had five in a row in the Sun City during the 2019-20 campaign. That year the Orange and Blue won each of those contests, including knocking off both NM State and New Mexico within the span of a week. Following the match-up with McMurry, USAO (Thursday, Nov. 9), 2023 NCAA Tournament team UCSB (Nov. 13) and Austin Peay (Nov. 17) will venture to El Paso.
 
"915 GAME" COMING SOON
UTEP will hold its annual "915 game" when it plays host to UCSB at 7 p.m. MT on Nov. 13. The Miners will be looking for their first sellout since packing the Don Haskins Center to capacity against Western Kentucky on Feb. 6, 2016. UTEP bested the Hilltoppers, 93-89, in overtime in that contest. The Orange and Blue nearly sold out the Bear's Den against I-10 rival NM State last year, with 11,315 fans cheering UTEP to a 67-64 win on Nov. 12, 2022. It marked head coach Joe Golding's first victory against the Aggies and was UTEP's initial triumph in the series in three years.
 
THE BEST FANS IN CONFERENCE USA
UTEP led Conference USA in attendance last year in both total number of fans (81,941) and average attendance (4,552). It marked the second straight season that the Miners have paced CUSA in at least one of those categories. Last year, UTEP's advantage for per-game average was noticeable, with WKU more than 500 fans behind on average at 4,026.

MORE THAN A MILLION FANS
UTEP has attracted more than one million fans to the Don Haskins Center over the past decade. A total of 1,116,176 individuals have passed through the turnstiles from the beginning of the 2012-13 campaign to the end of the 2022-23 season. That figure makes the Miners the only school out of the nine members in Conference USA to have topped one million fans in that timeframe.
 
HOME COOKING
UTEP enters the season having registered four straight seasons with at least 10 wins at home. Last year the Miners compiled 11 victories at the Don Haskins Center, including going 3-0 at the inaugural Jim Forbes Classic Presented by Speaking Rock to claim the crown.
 
SERIES HISTORY: UTEP LEADS, 6-0
UTEP is undefeated (6-0) against McMurry, with five of the match-ups occurring in the Sun City. The two sides haven't squared off since the 1971-72 season, when the Miners bested the War Hawks, 71-47. All of the other meetings between the foes happened in the 1950's. Coincidentally, head coach Joe Golding is 2-0 against McMurry, defeating them twice while he was with Abilene Christian.
 
GET TO KNOW MCMURRY
McMurry is a Division III program that competes as a member of the American Southwest Conference. Incidentally, the commissioner of the league (David Flores) is a former UTEP quarterback (1985-88). The War Hawks bring back seven lettermen, including four starters, from last year's squad that finished at 7-18 (6-12 league record). Five of the top seven scorers from last season are back in the fold, including CJ LeBlanc, who paced the team at 18.1 ppg. Other notable scoring threats are Elias Garcia (12.4 ppg), TJ Hilliard (12.0 ppg), Matt Pena (9.0 ppg) and Rob Charles (8.5 ppg). Garcia led the team in rebounding (6.4 rpg) in 2022-23 while LeBlanc was second on the squad last year in assists (4.1 apg). The squad played a wild style of basketball, averaging 89.2 points per game while yielding 92.5 ppg. It made nearly 10 (9.4) 3-pointers per contest. McMurry is under the direction of ninth-year head coach Zach Pickelman, who has compiled a mark of 58-136 in that timeframe. McMurry enters the season in search of its first winning mark since 2012-13 when Chris Beard guided the War Hawks to a record of 19-10. Beard went on to coach Power-five programs such as Texas Tech, Texas and Ole Miss (currently). McMurry is a private Methodist university located in Abilene, Texas, which has 1,145 students. Notable alumni include Sarah Weddington (attorney in Roe vs. Wade) and William Arthur Ward (motivational writer).  
 
IT'S NOT EVERYONE BACK, BUT IT'S MUCH THAN A YEAR AGO
UTEP returns its leading scorer (Tae Hardy-12.8 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 1.2 spg) and rebounder (Calvin Solomon-6.0 rpg, 9.6 ppg, 2.0 apg, 2.0 spg) from last year's team. Overall, the Miners bring back 54.3 percent of their scoring and 50.5 percent of their rebounding. It is a stark difference from the situation the Orange and Blue faced going into the 2022-23 campaign, when they had just 20.8 percent of the rebounding and 11.1 percent of the scoring back. UTEP has seven lettermen in the fold, including three starters (Hardy, Solomon and Otis Frazier III; 7.5 ppg, 4.1 rpg). Jon Dos Anjos (4.2 ppg, 1.5 rpg) , Derick Hamilton (2.7 ppg, 1.4 rpg), Antwonne Holmes and Kevin Kalu are the other returning lettermen. The Miners landed six newcomers, including junior-college All-American Corey Camper Jr. (19.9 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 3.0 apg at Tyler JC) and DI transfers Zid Powell (13.0 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 2.7 apg, 1.9 spg at Buffalo) and Baylor Hebb (Colorado State). UTEP also has a pair of true freshmen (Trey Horton III, David Terrell Jr.) and another JUCO transfer (Sebastian Cole). Garrett Levesque (Tarleton State) and Elijah Jones (ECU) are also ready to go after redshirting the 2022-23 campaign.
 
PRESEASON HONORS
UTEP seniors Tae Hardy and Calvin Solomon were tabbed to the 2023-24 CUSA All-Preseason Team in a vote by the league's nine head coaches. The Miners joined Middle Tennessee and WKU as the only programs in the conference to have a pair of members on the squad. Hardy led the 2022-23 team in scoring (12.8 ppg) and 3-pointers made (47) while ranking second on the squad in minutes per game (32.4 mpg) and third in both assists (1.9 apg) and steals per games (1.2 spg).  Solomon was the only Miner to start all 32 games last year, topping the squad in offensive rebounds (71-ninth C-USA), rebounding (6.0 rpg-ninth C-USA), steals (2.0 spg-second C-USA/32nd NCAA) and free throws attempted (127) after transferring in from Stephen F. Austin. He rated second on the squad in assists (2.0 apg), tied for second in free throws made (76) and third in scoring (9.6 ppg), blocked shots (14) and minutes per game (27.8 mpg). He joined Randy Culpepper and Hall of Famer Tim Hardaway as the lone Miners in program history to average at least 2.0 steals per game.
 
NEW-LOOK LEAGUE
UTEP joined Conference USA as the newest school in the league for the 2005-06 campaign. It enters the 2023-24 season as the most-tenured member. The 11 programs who were part of CUSA when the Miners moved to it have since departed to other conferences. Joining UTEP as returning league members are FIU, LA Tech, Middle Tennessee and WKU while Jax State, Liberty, NM State and Sam Houston are all in their first year.
 
CUSA IS UP FOR GRABS
UTEP was predicted to finish fifth in Conference USA in 2023-24, but it's anyone's guess as to who will take home the regular season crown this season with so much turnover in the league. Five of the top six teams from the standings a year ago have departed for other conferences, including regular season and tournament champion Florida Atlantic. FAU made waves nationally by making a run to the Final Four in the NCAA. The second (North Texas) and third-place (UAB) teams squared off in the NIT finale, and fifth-place Charlotte won the CBI. In fact, only one team (Middle Tennessee) that finished among the top six in the regular season last year is back. Incidentally, the Blue Raiders and newcomer Liberty are picked to win the league, followed by WKU (third), LA Tech (fourth), the Miners (fifth), Sam Houston (sixth), FIU (seventh), NM State (eighth) and Jax State (ninth)
 
A YEAR IN REVIEW
-    UTEP had a new-look squad in 2022-23 with head coach Joe Golding having to overhaul the roster after the Miners returned just one starter and three letterwinners total from a 20-win team a year prior.
-    The Orange and Blue  managed a 14-18 record, including a 67-64 victory against NM State on Nov. 12, 2022, for their first win against the Aggies in three years. That was the start of a five-game winning streak, which was aided by back-to-back OT triumphs.
-    The five straight victories in November were the longest in the month in four years, which was aided by a mark of 3-0 in the inaugural Jim Forbes Classic Presented by Speaking Rock.
-    The Miners came within a point of winning the WestStar Don Haskins Sun Bowl Invitational, falling 47-46 to eventual NCAA Tournament participant Kent State on Dec. 22, 2022. UTEP experienced a tough 1-4 stretch early in league play, with those four setbacks by a combined 14 points.
-    UTEP remained resilient on the way to forging seven league triumphs, capped by a 77-65 "Senior Day" triumph against Middle Tennessee on March 4, 2023.
-    The Orange and Blue tied the single-season school record for overtime games at five, matching the 1994-95 and 2011-12 teams. All five of the OT games were in the regular season, which are the most ever at the school. Both the 1994-95 and 2011-12 Miners had in four OT games during the regular season and one postseason OT tilt.
 
THE BASIC FACTS ON UTEP
-    This is the 103rd season of UTEP men's basketball. The Miners made history by starting five African-Americans to defeat Kentucky, 72-65, and win the 1966 NCAA Championship on the way to inspiring the Disney hit movie Glory Road.
-    UTEP has 17 NCAA Tournament appearances (last in 2010), 11 NIT bids (last in 2015), 12 conference championships (last in 2010) and 26 seasons with at least 20+ victories (last in 2015). The Miners have won five league tournaments (last in 2005).
-    The Miners have a strong presence in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame with Don Haskins, Nate Archibald, Nolan Richardson, the 1966 team and Tim Hardaway all representing UTEP.
 
GET TO KNOW COACH GOLDING
Joe Golding is in his third year at UTEP, and is 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 192-176 in his 13th season as a collegiate head coach, including 34-32 at UTEP. Those 34 wins already place him tied for 10th all time at the school for career victories, and he has a chance to climb into sixth place by year's end. In 2021-22 he became the fourth head coach (20 total) in program history to have a winning season in their first year on the sideline. Don Haskins was 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 combined to forge an average record of 9-13 in their first year with UTEP. Previously Golding  spent 10 years at Abilene Christian (158-144), helping it transition from a Division II to a Division I program. Golding led the Wildcats to the 2019 and 2021 NCAA Tournaments, including a stunning upset as a 14-seed of third-seeded Texas in the first round of the 2021 Big Dance.
 
UP NEXT
UTEP continues its season-opening four-game homestand by playing against NAIA program USAO at 7 p.m. MT Thursday (Nov. 9). The contest will be broadcast on 600 ESPN El Paso and streamed on ESPN+ (subscription required). Tickets are available by visiting www.UTEPMiners.com/Tickets or by calling (915) 747-UTEP.