Getty Anthony Tarke and the UTEP Miners will visit the FIU Panthers.
The Florida International Panthers (9-4) will host the UTEP Miners (9-4) on Thursday at the Ocean Bank Convocation Center in Miami as both sides enter Conference USA play.
The game (7 p.m. ET start time) won’t be on TV anywhere, but you can watch it live on ESPN+:
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Once signed up for ESPN+, you can then watch UTEP vs FIU live on your computer via ESPN.com, or on your phone (Android and iPhone compatible), tablet, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, or other streaming device via the ESPN app.
UTEP vs FIU Preview
The Miners have dropped three of their last four, falling to the Houston Cougars on the road before going 1-2 in the Diamond Head Classic in Hawaii.
“We got so much better on our trip to Hawaii,” UTEP head coach Rodney Terry said, according to KROD. “Even in Houston. We played a really good schedule up to this point.”
UTEP fell to the Boise State Broncos 72-67 on Christmas to close out their trip to Hawaii. Miners guard Daryl Edwards scored a team-high 14 points on 6-of-9 shooting. Anthony Tarke, a transfer from the NJIT Highlanders who missed the team’s first five games due to injury, came off the bench to grab a team-high 8 rebounds, adding 4 points, a block, and a steal in 27 minutes.
“Tarke got off to a slow start because he got injured, missed a week and quite frankly, wasn’t playing with the motive that we needed him to play with in practice,” Terry said, per KROD. “He changed that. He never had a bad attitude, had a great approach, became a great teammate. When the opportunity came, he made the most of it.”
Tarke is expected to make his first start of the season on Thursday, joining Bryson Williams in the frontcourt. He’d take the spot previously occupied by Eric Vila and Tydus Verhoeven.
Nigel Hawkins, a guard who started 27 games for UTEP a season ago, is also slated to start for the first time in 2019-20, replacing Jordan Lathon, who entered the transfer portal on Sunday.
“Everyone is going to shuffle with guys right now,” Terry said, per KROD. “This time, everyone is trying to figure out their team. You’re going to play all types of lineups. It’s a team sport.”
FIU won six straight before they fell to the Minnesota Golden Gophers 89-62 on the road on Saturday.
Panthers forward Devon Andrews led the team with 14 points, but went just 6-of-17 from the floor. Big man Osasumwen Osaghae, whose 4.5 blocks per game lead the nation, scored 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting to go with 10 rebounds and 5 swats.
The Gophers dominated on the glass, grabbing 15 offensive rebounds. Six belonged to center Daniel Oturu, who scored 21 points on 8-of-12 shooting and grabbed 20 boards overall.
“We just didn’t play well,” Panthers head coach Jeremy Ballard said, according to The Associated Press. “We fought well and I think we showed people what our heart and what our mettle is about. But we’re a much better team than how we played and we’ll play much better moving forward.”
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