Louisville will aim to end a three-game losing streak when it hosts UTEP on Wednesday, but beating the Miners may not be an easy feat.
UTEP (6-2) comes to the Derby City winners of three straight, most recently beating Seattle 88-72 on Saturday. The Miners shot 56.1 percent (32 of 57) and used a 24-2 first-half run to essentially put the game away.
Coach Joe Golding said that first-half performance may have been UTEP’s best in his four years leading the school.
“I thought offensively and defensively the first 20 minutes we were really locked in and ready to go. (The game) never got close,” he said. “We kept it at 20-plus points for the majority of the game. Our ball movement was terrific.”
Ahamad Bynum led the Miners with 19 points on 7-of-9 shooting off the bench, while Otis Frazier III added 18 points and five assists. Frazier (13.6 points per game) and Bynum (12.1 ppg) are among four UTEP players averaging in double figures.
Bynum leads the country shooting 63.3 percent from beyond the 3-point arc, though he has attempted just 30 threes, making 19.
Louisville (5-4) also started hot in its last game but could not sustain its momentum in a 76-65 home loss to then-No. 9 Duke on Sunday.
Coach Pat Kelsey’s team, which had just seven players healthy, made 10 of its first 14 shots to build a 30-16 lead before the Cardinals’ lack of depth caught up to them. Louisville shot just 9-of-37 (24.3 percent) after its hot start and was outscored 43-28 after halftime.
Terrence Edwards Jr. paced the Cardinals with 21 points in his first game as a reserve this season. Edwards (11.9 ppg) is one of four Louisville scorers averaging double figures, led by
Chucky Hepburn leads the team in scoring (14.3 ppg) and is second in the country with 3.2 steals per game.
The Cardinals entered the season with expectations of rotating 10 or more players to utilize Kelsey’s up-tempo attack. However, swingman Kasean Pryor (knee) and guard Koren Johnson (shoulder) will both miss the rest of the season, while forward Aboubacar Traore (arm) is out indefinitely.
After Sunday’s loss, Kelsey did not rule out adding players to the roster during the season.
“Everything’s on the table,” he said. “I don’t sleep, figuring out what buttons to push to get this team to be the best that they can be. We’ll scour every inch of the Earth to figure out how we can improve our team. And whether that happens or not, I have no idea, but I’m willing to try anything.”
–Field Level Media
