UTEP Gets Their Point Guard in Oklahoma Transfer Jamal Bieniemy
When the UTEP men's basketball team began 8-1 last season, something was still missing from their hot start. The Miners caught fire early despite a true point guard on the roster, and that omission came back to haunt them as the season progressed. UTEP entered the offseason with a true point guard as their number one priority. This morning, they landed their top target with Oklahoma transfer Jamal Bieniemy.
The 6'5 guard started half of his games as a freshman for the Sooners and last season, he started in 30 of 31 games. In Bieniemy, UTEP will finally get the floor general they have been lacking. He is known as a really good defender who takes care of the basketball.
"He does a lot of things that stats aren’t taken on," Oklahoma senior forward Kristian Doolittle told the Norman Transcript back in January. "He runs the team very well. He’s the definition of a true point guard. He always gets us into different types of sets. He can handle the ball really well and gives us passes on the money."
Bieniemy also held virtual visits with Creighton and Michigan but ultimately, he chose the Miners. He was born in New Orleans but raised in Houston, an area of strength when recruiting for UTEP head coach Rodney Terry. The big question remaining will be whether or not Bieniemy will be immediately eligible for the Miners. Yesterday, the NCAA pushed the first time transfer waiver back to the 2021-22 season. However, they also mentioned that they would give great consideration to case by case waivers due to the coronavirus pandemic.