WKU Mens Basketball will complete their two game road trip Saturday, taking on the University of Texas El-Paso Miners.

The Hilltoppers picked up their second loss of conference play on Thursday after the New Mexico State Aggies clawed their way back from a 23-point deficit to pick up the win, sending WKU to fifth place in Conference-USA

The Miners, who have been a flip-floppy team for most of the season, come into the weekend with a 10-8 record. After starting the season an impressive 5-0, UTEP would go on to win only one of their next six games. 

In terms of conference play, the Miners are sitting at 1-2 with road losses at both New Mexico State and Florida Atlantic. UTEP has picked up each of their 10 wins at home.

This will be the 10th meeting for these two teams, with another match-up scheduled at Diddle Arena in February. WKU is 8-1 against the Miners, with their most recent win coming in the first round of last year’s Conference-USA tournament.

The Hilltoppers will be heading into this game as both the most prolific scoring team in C-USA, averaging 78.8 points per game, but also as the top rebounding team in the conference, sitting at 41.1 rebounds per contest.

However, behind all the points sits a team that currently resides in the bottom 25% of D-1 schools in efficiency. Luckily for the Hilltoppers, UTEP is one of the four C-USA teams that ranks behind them.

Don McHenry, the Hilltoppers leading scorer, was silenced during Thursday’s loss at New Mexico State. The Milwaukee native’s one-point and four-turnover performance was pivotal in the team’s loss to the Aggies.

Tae Hardy is the man in charge of the offense for the Miners. The senior guard sits in fourth place in all of C-USA scoring, and is the only UTEP player to make an appearance in the top-15. The Georgia local is averaging 15 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 2.6 assists on 42% shooting from the field. 

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