Editor’s Note: This recap is not the most recent game for the UTEP Miners Men’s Basketball.
The Miners (4-0) have done it again, taking a win over Austin Peay (2-2) Nov. 17, in the first game of the SoCal Challenge tournament. The game was heated from the start, but the Miners persevered, marking the fourth win in a row at the Don Haskins Center to start the season.
Continuing this historic season, this is the first time in four years that the Miners have gone 4-0, making this a hard-earned feat. Although the Miners kept the lead throughout the duration of the game, the Governors did not go down without a fight.
UTEP senior forward Calvin Solomon and APSU senior forward Daniel Loos tipped off, and the game began with a Miners possession. Senior guard Zid Powell was the first to put points up on the scoreboard, as he scored three for the Miners.
Powell would score another two for the Miners before APSU got points on the board from graduate student guard DeMarcus Sharp.
A major player from the game was senior guard Tae Hardy, as he put up 25 out of UTEP’s 71 points, over a third of UTEP’s final score. This was a great night for the senior, as this was the most, he’s scored wearing a UTEP jersey. Hardy credits this success to Head Coach Joe Golding for pushing him hard in practice, although he still has some things to improve on.
“I feel like coach Golding still coaches me just as hard if not harder,” said Hardy. “I just feel like it’s just working on my leadership role, understanding the next play entirely, staying positive, and bringing that energy every day throughout practice, The team does the same thing, even though everybody has bad days, when I’m down they pick me up, vice versa, and it just makes it easier to have fun out there because the practices are harder than the games.”
Solomon was another heavy hitter for the game, as he achieved a career high of seven assists. His emotion was on display throughout the game, as he became heated during the first half of the game, setting the tone on the court.
“That’s just the type of player I am,” said Solomon. “I just like to show emotion, I like to do it at practice, I just knew if I did it at the game my teammates would be kind of turned up for it, so that’s what helped me out right there, just letting it all out.”
Fans showed up for the game in droves as almost 5,000 were in attendance, something Golding has credited for the team’s continued success.
“I thought tonight might’ve been better than Monday night,” Golding said. “And definitely our student section, our student section was incredible, and we’re building it, we’re building these crowds, and I can’t thank this city enough.”
Golding put a lot of weight on the team’s performance and the coaching staff. Although the Miners took the win, it was still a tough game, and Golding believes there is always room for improvement.
“I’m going to take the hit, we did not have our team prepared,” Golding said.“We didn’t spend enough time on the 1-3-1, we turned it over a ton on it, we were just bad offensively, and that’s on me.”
The Miners will be playing an away game in San Juan Capistrano, California to face off against Pac-12 member Cal Nov. 20.
Nicholas Maes is a contributor and may be reached at [email protected]
