MinerTalk: UTEP vs. Texas Tech Becomes Must-Watch Exhibition

Tonight will be an early start to the UTEP men's basketball 2019-20 campaign, as the Miners will host the NCAA championship runner-up Texas Tech in a charity exhibition game.

All tickets are $10 with general admission (first come/first served) seating and all proceeds will benefit the victims of the Aug. 3 tragedy.

You can catch the game on 600 ESPN El Paso, as the “The Voice of the UTEP Miners” Jon Teicher will call the action with color analyst Steve Yellen. We will also have MinerTalk following the broadcast with Sal Montes and myself.

Aside to this game going to a meaningful cause, this game will serve as a first glimpse to the new-look Miners team featuring seven Division I transfers and four returning sophomores.

• Starters returning: Efe Odigie, Nigel Hawkins and Jordan Lathon
• Eligible newcomers:  Kaden Archie (TCU), Souley Boum (San Francisco), Daryl Edwards (LSU), Anthony Tarke (NJIT), Tydus Verhoeven (Duquesne), Bryson Williams (Fresno State), Eric Vila (NW Florida JC) and Deon Stroud (Prop-48)
• Sitting out 19-20 (per NCAA transfer rules): Keonte Kennedy (Xavier)

Friday's practice for the men's basketball team included tons of intensity under a focused-driven approach by the coaching staff. They were so meticulous that the team even conducted bench etiquette training by the end of practice.

The Miners previewed two rotations yesterday that could be their starting five. Although Terry wouldn't comment on the starting five, the first rotation featured Hawkins, Boum, Lathon, Vila and Williams. The second rotation had Odigie, Verhoeven, Boum, Edwards and Tarke.

Texas Tech is coming off the program's first-ever National Championship game in 2019. They finished 31-7 last season and they bring back Davide Moretti, a 6-foot-2 junior guard who ranked second on the team in scoring (11.5 ppg), while leading the squad in three-point shooting, connecting on 45.9 percent (73-of-159). Kyler Edwards (played in all 38 games) and Avery Benson (played in 20 contests) are the other pair of returnees.