New Mexico State Aggies (11-11, 4-8 CUSA) at UTEP Miners (8-15, 4-8 CUSA)

El Paso, Texas; Saturday, 9 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: UTEP faces New Mexico State after Caleb Blackwell scored 22 points in UTEP’s 70-66 loss to the Sam Houston Bearkats.

The Miners have gone 7-5 in home games. UTEP has a 3-1 record in games decided by 3 points or fewer.

The Aggies have gone 4-8 against CUSA opponents. New Mexico State is seventh in the CUSA with 13.4 assists per game led by Gabe Pickens averaging 3.0.

UTEP’s average of 7.0 made 3-pointers per game this season is the same per game average that New Mexico State allows. New Mexico State has shot at a 43.6% rate from the field this season, 0.9 percentage points fewer than the 44.5% shooting opponents of UTEP have averaged.

The Miners and Aggies face off Saturday for the first time in conference play this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Elijah Jones is scoring 14.1 points per game and averaging 5.1 rebounds for the Miners. Jamal West is averaging 14.9 points and 7.4 rebounds over the last 10 games.

Jemel Jones is averaging 16.3 points and 1.5 steals for the Aggies. Julius Mims is averaging 11.7 points over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Miners: 4-6, averaging 67.7 points, 29.2 rebounds, 12.6 assists, 6.5 steals and 3.3 blocks per game while shooting 41.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 70.6 points per game.

Aggies: 3-7, averaging 72.7 points, 32.8 rebounds, 12.3 assists, 5.5 steals and 3.0 blocks per game while shooting 42.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 73.0 points.

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.