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As we all know during Thanksgiving weekend The UTEP Miners will head to the Bahamas for the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament that features Iowa, Kansas, Tennessee, Xavier, USC, Villanova and Wake Forest.
Part of the Battle 4 Atlantis is a preliminary home game with no tournament seeding affected, thus the Miners host West Alabama for the first meeting in both programs history.
The Division two Tigers finished 10-16 overall last year, and had a 6-12 record in the Gulf South Conference. They return their leading scorer from a year ago, Sandy Underwood who averaged 15 points and 7 rebounds a contest last season.
They also returned eight lettermen including three starters, and are coming into the Don with 1-1 record this season. They will play USC next on Nov 21.
Of course the Miners are coming off a tough loss to hated rival New Mexico State. Vince Hunter scored 16 points for the Miners, although it was a free throw shooting contest as expected, both the Miners and Aggies shot a comibned 81 free throws and 53 personal fouls were called with the new NCAA rule changes.
This afternoons ball game is the second game in a 16 day stretch of seven games for the Miners and a start of a three game home stand as Colorado State comes into the Don on Tuesday, and the Miners and Aggies part deuce is on Saturday.
Make sure to stay tuned to MinerRush for more information on all things UTEP sports, and make sure to Follow @sbnminerrush on Twitter for live updates from The Haskins Center throughout the game. Picks Up, and Go Miners!