Tulsa Defeats UTEP 74-70, Sweeping The Season Series

The UTEP Miners lost for only the second time on their home floor this season, as Tulsa swept the season series with a 74-70 win.  The Miners struggled both offensively and defensively in the contest, the team shot a dismal 25 percent from the field in the first half.

The loss was quite costly for the Miners, as they fell to 4th place in the C-USA standings.  Their defensive effort was mediocre at best, Tulsa scored 34 points in the paint.  The Golden Hurricane leading scorers were D'Andre Wright with a career high 25 points, and Kauri Black scored 13.

The Miners had their 8 game home winning streak snapped with the loss, an energetic crowd of 9,811 was in attendance.  It was the largest crowd to watch the Miners at home this season.  UTEP had four players score double digit points.  Konner Tucker led all scorers with 17 points, while McKenzie Moore scored 14, Jacques Streeter had 11, and Julian Washburn added 10.

The Miners lived and died by the 3 pointer, nearly half of their shots were from downtown.  The team was able to erase an 11 point deficit in the 2nd half, and even took a 56-54 lead with 6:45 remaining in the game, but could not hold on for the victory.

Next up for the Miners is a trip to Houston to face the Cougars who are 14-8 on the season.  John Bohannon did not play and McKenzie Moore didn't start the game, he scored all 12 of his points in the second half.  During the game Coach Floyd had an argument with John Bohannon on the Miners bench and was noticeably upset.

Following the game I asked Coach Floyd what happened with John Bohannon and he mentioned,

UTEP will need all the help they can get as they will face some fierce competition over their final 8 games.  If this team has any chance of potentially winning the C-USA Tournament, then they must play as a cohesive unit.