RUSTON – The Louisiana Tech Men's Basketball team plays the first of its 20-game league schedule on Saturday as the Bulldogs open up Conference USA play at UTEP. This marks the 10th season in C-USA for LA Tech.
GAME INFORMATION
Date/Time: Saturday, Dec. 17 | 7 p.m. CT
Location: Don Haskins Center (El Paso, Texas)
TV/Stream: CUSA.tv
Radio: LA Tech Sports Network | LA Tech Athletics app
Stats: LATechSports.com/Stats
ABOUT LOUISIANA TECH (6-4)
LA Tech will have to shake off an 80-79 overtime loss to Stephen F. Austin this past Wednesday. The Bulldogs scored a season-high 54 points in the paint, but the Lumberjacks used the three ball to come out the win, making 14 from beyond the arc. In the end, it was a driving layup with 0.9 seconds left that proved to be the game winner.
The Bulldogs ended up forcing a season-high 28 turnovers in the loss. It tied for the fifth most forced TOs in program history and the most since setting the program record with 31 takeaways against Wiley College in 2019. LA Tech has now forced 20+ turnovers in six of its 10 games this season and ranks 14th in the country in forced turnovers per game (18.40).
Cobe Williams made history in the game by becoming the first Bulldog in program history to register at least 20 points, 10 assists, and five steals in a single game. He recorded 23 points to go along with a career-high 11 dimes and five swipes. It was his first career double-double and the first Bulldog with a points/assists double-double since Alex Hamilton in 2016.
Kenny Hunter had arguably his best game as a Bulldog, tallying a career-high 16 points on 8-of-9 shooting from the field to go along with five rebounds. He became just the fifth Bulldog in the last decade to shoot at least 88 percent of the field while attempting at least nine field goals.
ABOUT UTEP (6-3)
After winning five straight, UTEP has dropped two of its last three games. The most recent one being a 91-70 loss at DePaul this past Saturday. The Miners are undefeated at home this season, having won all six games in the Don Haskins Center.
After losing its top three scorers from a season ago, including All-Conference USA guards Souley Boum and Jamal Bieniemy, UTEP has a revamped roster including six Division I transfers.
Offensively, UTEP gets to the free throw line a ton. Despite only shooting 62.9 percent from the charity stripe, the Miners rank fourth in the country in free throw attempts per game at 27.6 and 17th in the country in made free throws per game with 17.3.
Defensively, the Miners are one of the best teams in the country in forcing turnovers. They force an average of 19.3 per game and average 9.8 steals per contest, both statistics which rank in the top 25 in the country. LA Tech will have now played three of the top 10 teams in the nation in forcing TOs (Stephen F. Austin and Southern being the other two).
THE SERIES
LA Tech leads the all-time series over UTEP, 17-13, and also has a 10-5 advantage since the two became C-USA opponents.
The Bulldogs have won in El Paso each of the last three seasons. They were 63-60 winners last season as
Cobe Williams scored a team-high 17 points.
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