UTEP Miners Narrowly Outscored by New Mexico State Aggies in a Close Encounter

The University of Texas at El Paso Miners fell short against the New Mexico State Aggies with a final score of 66-59. The Miners now stand with an overall record of 0-1, while the Aggies improved to 1-0.

In a game that saw only two lead changes and was tied once, the UTEP Miners displayed commendable effort at the Pan American Center. Despite trailing in the first quarter with just 9 points to the Aggies' 19, they picked up momentum in the second quarter adding another 16 points to their tally. The third quarter saw them scoring an additional 14 points and finishing strong with a fourth-quarter surge of 20 points.

The UTEP offense was led by their sharpshooting from beyond the arc, converting five out of nineteen three-point attempts for a conversion rate of approximately twenty-six percent. Inside, they were more efficient, making fifteen out of twenty-nine two-point shots which translates to roughly fifty-two percent shooting accuracy from that range.

On defense, however, UTEP managed only two blocks throughout the game but made up for it somewhat with six steals. They also showed some hustle on fast breaks contributing six points from such plays.

One area where UTEP struggled was turnovers; they had fourteen turnovers which turned into nineteen points for NMSU. This was reflected in their assists turnover ratio which stood at just half an assist per turnover.

Rebounding was another aspect where UTEP could have used improvement as they grabbed twenty-six rebounds compared to thirty-eight by NMSU. Of those rebounds for UTEP, seven were offensive giving them second-chance opportunities resulting in seven additional points.

Free throws were one area where both teams performed equally well; each team made fourteen free throws on nineteen attempts giving them both a free throw percentage rounding off to seventy-four percent.

Despite these efforts by UTEP and scoring twenty-six points within paint areas similar to NMSU's twenty-two paint points, it wasn't enough as NMSU edged ahead mainly due to their higher total rebound count and second-chance point tally which stood at double that of UTEP's at twenty.

Looking ahead after this tough loss on rival turf, fans can look forward to supporting their team when The University of Texas at El Paso Miners host Western Kentucky Lady Toppers next week on February 15th at Don Haskins Center located in El Paso TX starting from eight o'clock PM local time (Central Time). Fans unable to attend can catch live coverage broadcasted directly from Don Haskins Center.