EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — The UTEP men’s basketball team beat Tarleton State, 67-62, to spoil former UTEP head coach Billy Gillispie’s return to the Don Haskins Center on Monday night.
Tarleton State men’s basketball head coach Billy Gillispie, who was the head coach at UTEP from 2002-2004, is one of the best to ever lead the Miners’ basketball program despite the short time he spent in El Paso. Gillispie led UTEP to a remarkable turnaround during his tenure.
In the 2003-04 season, his first season as UTEP’s head coach, the Miners went 6-24. The very next season, Gillispie led UTEP to a 24-8 season, which matched the biggest turnaround in NCAA history. That season, the Miners also received an at-large bid to the 2004 NCAA Tournament.
Monday night’s game was the first time Gillispie coached against UTEP since leaving the program in 2004. UTEP welcomed him back prior to tipoff with a short tribute video ahead of tipoff.
“I love coming to El Paso,” Tarleton State men’s basketball head coach Billy Gillispie said postgame. “I love this town. I love the people. I get emotional thinking about it. I come here two or three times a year just to see the people. I love the people here. I’ve got so many friends that I made here while I was coaching. I’ve been in great places throughout my career, and I love all the places, but the people in El Paso are the best. A few of them were yelling insults at me tonight. I don’t like those, but there weren’t many. What a great town, a great culture, it’s something else in this town and I love it.”
After Monday night, Gillispie is now 0-1 as a head coach against UTEP.
“It’s exactly how I thought the game was going to play out,” UTEP head coach Joe Golding said. “Coach Gillispie had seven days to prepare for this game. This was a big game for him. I know it meant a lot to him. I knew it was going to be a grind it out, tough game. They were going to take the air out of the ball, they were going to grind us. It makes every possession so important. They took us out of everything we were trying to do in sets, which was like playing against us. We controlled the first half of the game, and they controlled the second. I love it. It’s college basketball, and there’s different ways to win games.”
After a solid first half, things changed in the second half. UTEP played a sloppy second half and Tarleton State took advantage of that. Three times Tarleton State got within a possession in the half, but on each occasion UTEP had an answer and secured the 67-62 win.
UTEP forced Tarleton State into 18 turnovers and scored 24 points off of them, which played a huge role in the Miners holding off the Texans.
Otis Frazier III led UTEP in scoring with 18 points. Corey Camper Jr. and Devon Barnes each had 11 points. Ahamad Bynum scored 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the floor and 2-of-4 from three.
Benjamin Bubu led Tarleton State in scoring with 18 points.
UTEP improved to 7-3 on the season and won its first of seven upcoming games at the Don Haskins Center.
Up next, UTEP will play in the 63rd Annual WestStar Don Haskins Sun Bowl Invitational. UTEP will play Jackson State on Friday. Tipoff for that game is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. MT. Winner advances to the championship game and will play the winner of the Akron and Yale contest.
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