BEAUMONT, Texas – Sporting a 4-1 (.800) overall record, the Lamar University men's basketball team travels to El Paso, Texas Sunday to take on the UTEP Miners. Big Red heads west looking to equal its best start to a season since the 2008-09 season when the Cards opened with a 5-1 mark.
 
The Miners enter the week with a 1-3 (.250) overall record and have dropped three very tough games away from El Paso after a season-opening victory over Louisiana College. Just four games into the season, the Miners have already faced a tough non-conference schedule that has consisted of games against Boise State, South Carolina and Appalachian State. UTEP will take on New Mexico State in Las Cruces before returning home to host the Cardinals.
 
The Cardinals enter the matchup looking for their first victory in series history having dropped all four previous meetings, including three in El Paso. Despite the Cardinals run of tough luck against UTEP, the Southland Conference has seen some recent success posting a 3-4 (.429) record against the Miners over the course of the past four seasons including two SLC wins last season.
 
LU head coach Tic Price will look for the Cardinals offense to continue at the same pace it has been for the past few games. Led by junior Nick Garth's 14.6 points per game, the Cardinals are averaging better than 84 points. That number has jumped over the course of the team's past three games. LU has reached the century mark twice during that stretch and is averaging nearly 94 points in its last three contests.
 
The Cardinals are getting help from several different weapons during the early part of the season. In addition to Garth, senior Colton Weisbrod, junior Josh Nzeakor and sophomore T.J. Atwood are averaging in double figures. Weisbrod is averaging 14.2 points and is second in the league pulling down 8.4 rebounds per game.
 
Another strength for the Cardinals this season has been their work on the glass. The Cardinals are averaging better than 40 rebounds per game, and outrebounding opponents by more than seven boards per game.
 
UTEP strength has been in its defense. The Miners are holding opponents to 66 points per game. UTEP's offense is led by Keith Frazier and Matt Willms. Frazier leads the team averaging nearly 17 points per game, while Willms has scored 14.8 points through the team's first four contests.
 
The Cardinals enter the contest shooting 47.4 percent from the field after coming off their best shooting performance of the season (38-of-68/.559). The Red and White continue to be a threat from long range knocking down nearly 37 percent of their attempts this season.
 
The three pointer will be an interesting game within a game as the long-range jumper is also a weapon for the Miners. UTEP has knocked down better than 35 percent of their attempts so far this season, but they don't look to shoot it as much as LU (UTEP - 65 attempts; LU – 112). The Miners are shooting just under 46 percent from the field on the year.
 
Monday's game will tip off at 7 p.m. (8 p.m. Beaumont time) from the Don Haskins Center in El Paso, Texas. It can be heard live on Newstalk 560 KLVI.
 
-LU CARDINALS-