The road in front of the UTEP men's basketball team is about to get significantly steeper, so the imperative in the first two games was to make the layups and set about finding their identity.

That went well enough, as the Miners moved to the 2-0 they were supposed to be with a 107-70 blowout of Division II Western New Mexico where they checked the boxes they wanted to check.

How UTEP did it

A UTEP team that is supposed to be balanced and deep got points from everywhere, with five players in double figures. The Miners will have to run up turnover margins and create havoc with their defense and in this game forced 22 while giving the ball away 12 times and winning points off turnovers 30-9. They added eight blocks.

They'll have to survive on the boards and against a team they badly

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