UTEP men’s basketball set to host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — UTEP (5-2) men’s basketball is set to host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (2-4) in its first home game in the Don Haskins Center in eleven days on Wednesday.
UTEP heads into Wednesday’s meeting on a two-game losing streak. UTEP dropped its last two games played in California, losing to Bradley in the SoCal Challenge Championship game on Nov. 22 and then losing to LMU in Los Angeles on Nov. 25.
With the defeat, UTEP gained a lot of data on themselves as they continue to develop the team as the season is still in its early stages.
“Anytime you play good teams, you get exposed but that’s what you want to do,” UTEP men’s basketball head coach Joe Golding said on Monday. “Look, we could play 300-Ken Pom teams and not learn a lot about ourselves, but we can play really good teams and figure out some things We are playing some really good teams right now, so we are getting challenged and we’re getting exposed on some stuff but that’s what you want, right? You want to find out what you’re good at and what you got to work on.”
UTEP will get another great test on paper when its faces Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Wednesday.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, the defending Southland Conference champs, will be the fourth game (1-2 thus far) this year against a program that won at least 19 games last season. It’s also the second contest against a 2023 NCAA Tournament Participant. Furthermore, it is the third match-up against a defending conference champion. UTEP knocked off Big West Champs (regular season and tournament) UC Santa Barbara, 89-76, at home on Nov. 13 and fell to Missouri Valley Champs (regular season) Bradley, 63-59, in the championship on Nov. 22.
UTEP leads the series with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 3-1, including a 72-67 home victory against the Islanders on Nov. 25, 2022, last season. It marked the third time out of the four total meetings that the Orange and Blue faced Texas A&M-CC in El Paso, with the other occurring at a neutral site. The Miners took out the Islanders, 82-56, in the first meeting on Dec. 8, 2001. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi avenged the setback the following season by besting UTEP, 77-72, on Feb. 18, 2003. The Orange and Blue then clipped the Islanders, 54-,52, on Nov. 13, 2007, before going 15 years until the next match-up.
UTEP and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi will go head-to-head on Wednesday night at the Don Haskins Center. Tipoff is at 7:00 p.m. MT.on 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. Tickets start as low as $9.15. For more information, please visit www.UTEPMiners.com/tickets or call (915) 747-UTEP.
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