The team began the season playing a charity gamne against national championship runner up Texas Tech. Last year’s top player Odigie even showed up noticeably trimmer, shedding at least 30 pounds. Fans were understandably excited especially with all the disappointment of the Tim Floyd era at UTEP. In August, the team added Edwards from Louisiana State.Īt the beginning of the season, the Miners were considered one of the top teams in conference. All of the transfers had a full season to develop a rapport with coaches and teammates. Over the summer the team added sophomore Xavier transfer guard Keonte Kennedy. Wenzel signed with Utah and Zarzuela signed with a junior college. Wenzel was a recruit of Burton and the reasons for the decommits were logical given all the transfers already waiting in the wings. A few days later another assistant coach, Brian Burton, was fired in an unrelated matter that was never disclosed.įollowing these events, the Miners ended up losing their only two high school commitments, guards Brenden Wenzel and Jessie Zarzuela. Smith was accused of helping a player secure admittance to San Diego in exchange for cash. Sophomore guards Evan Gilyard, the leading scorer for the team and Koby Magee a top reserve both announced their intentions to leave.Ībout a week later, March 20, assistant head coach Lamont Smith resigned from the program after being caught up in a recruiting scandal at the University of San Diego. Two significant contributors for the program last season decided to transfer on March 12 of that year. Texas Christian University was the surprise choice of Archie with which he only stayed for 10 games before transferring. Archie was a top 100 recruit in the nation and had offers from 17 schools, including the universities of Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma State. Tydus Verhoeven’s father had played at Fresno State and was considering the u niversity before Terry took the UTEP job.ĭuring the season the Miners added one of the biggest prospects the Miners have lured to El Paso in recent memory in 6-6 swingman Kaden Archie. Sophomore Efe Odigie who was named to the Conference-USA (C-USA) A ll -F reshm a n team also was originally supposed to play for Terry at Fresno State before he left the program. Both players played high school locally in Fresno. Having recruited in the Fresno area, Terry was able to pouch athletic guard Deon Stroud from his former university and convince graduate transfer senior Darryl Edwards to become a part of his team. He also brought in former Fresno player Eric Vila, a 6’11 ” forward, already on his third college with stops at Texas A& M and Northwest Community College prior to UTEP. Head Coach Rodney Terry brought one of his better players from his former school Fresno State in junior Bryson Williams who was a 14 – point scorer as a sophomore for his former team. With seven players sitting out the season due to transferring or grades, the addition of these players to the young core that played out the season would pay off in the long run. Finishing up the 2018-2019 season, UTEP Miner fans were convinced that the eight-win campaign was a time of development and growing for the team.
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