The woes of Lou Henson court continue for the Miners as they were blown out in the second half by the New Mexico State Aggies for a final score of 96-69 Friday night.
UTEP (1-1) has not won a game at the Pan American Center dating back to Nov. 30, 2010. The Aggies (2-0) have now won eight straight against UTEP.
UTEP came out aggressive in the first half, nailing their first five attempts from behind the arc. UTEP had their biggest lead of the game with nine points early in the first half. Throughout the first half, both teams would exchange points back and forth. UTEP would go on and shoot one for five from behind the arc to close out the half.
UTEP went into halftime trailing, 41-38, the sophomore backcourt duo of Kobe Magee and Evan Gilyard combined for 22 of the Miners 38 points. NMSU closed out the first half on a 20-10 run.
UTEP outshot NMSU in the first half, UTEP shot 55 percent from the field and 60 percent from behind the arc, whereas, NMSU shot 47 percent from the field and 46 percent from behind the arc.
“NM State pulled away and we just kind of stopped guarding them. Our defense kind of let us down towards the end of the first half,” first-year UTEP Head Coach Rodney Terry said. “We got off to a great start from an offensive standpoint, but those guys (NM State) made some big shots to close out the first half the right way. At halftime the challenge was, for our young guys, ‘how are you going to come out and respond?’ We’re going to come back and put it on our defense, really come out and try to get a stop. We had to start the half the right way, set our defense and try to get back after it again.”
In the second half, it was a completely different story, NMSU outscored UTEP 53-30. UTEP shot 30 percent from the field, whereas NMSU shot 52 percent from the field. UTEP struggled in the second half only nailing down eight of 27 shots. NMSU utilized their bench in the second half. The Aggie bench outscored UTEP 33-0. NMSU would lead by double digits throughout the second half when they went up by 12 six minutes into the second half.
UTEP scored in the second half by taking advantage of their free throws opportunities by shooting 10 of 16 from the charity stripe.
The Miners did finish with four players in double digits. Gilyard led all Miners with 25 points, freshmen forward Efe Odigie had 12, senior forward Paul Thomas added 10 and Magee finished the game with 12 points in 40 minutes. Magee has played in back-to-back 40 minute games for the Miners.
The Aggies had five players in double-figure scoring. Junior guard Clayton Henry led all Aggies with 17. Redshirt junior forward C.J. Bobbitt had 13, junior guard Terrell Brown, junior forward Ivan Aurrecoechea and redshirt senior forward Eli Chua each had 11 points each.
UTEP will face another road challenge when they take on Arizona on Wednesday, Nov. 14 tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.
