EL PASO, Texas – The UTEP men’s basketball team (12-15, 5-11 C-USA) will hit the road for the final time of the 2022-23 regular season when it opens a two-game swing through the “Sunshine State” at FIU (13-14, 7-9 C-USA) at 5 p.m. MT Thursday.
The Miners are in search of a season sweep and the 11th win in the past 12 match-ups between the programs. Earlier this season, UTEP successfully defended its homecourt against the Panthers with an 81-61 romp on Jan. 19.
Both the Miners and FIU have dropped back-to-back contests, with each eager for a win. UTEP is coming off a hard-fought 80-72 setback in OT to North Texas on Feb. 18 while the Panthers were upended at Middle Tennessee, 69-58.
The game against UNT marked UTEP’s fifth OT contest of the season, which ties as the most in program history along with the 1994-95 and 2011-12 squads. It did set a record for most regular-season OT tilts at the school. UTEP is 2-9 on the road (2-6 C-USA) while FIU stands at 11-5 in Miami (5-3 C-USA).
The Miners are in the midst of a difficult schedule stretch, as they face the top-four teams (based on standings) in the league over the final six contests of the campaign. That includes locking up at league-leading Florida Atlantic on Saturday to wrap up the final road trip of the regular season.
Thursday night’s game will air on ESPN+ in Miami.
