UTEP Officially Releases 2016-17 Men's Basketball Schedule

The UTEP men's basketball team will participate in the Gildan Charleston Classic the week before Thanksgiving and renew a long-standing rivalry with the New Mexico Lobos, highlighting a 2016-17 schedule that was announced on Wednesday.

The Miners will play a total of 18 home games, including two exhibitions, and will host four of the top-five teams from last year's C-USA standings -€” UAB (Feb. 2), Middle Tennessee (Feb. 4), LA Tech (Feb. 9) and Old Dominion (March 2).

"We're looking forward to the season," UTEP coach Tim Floyd said. "The Washington State series was put off a year. They'll be coming to El Paso next season. For some reason we couldn't reach an agreement on a return date. We're excited about starting a new series with New Mexico. They'll be at our place a year from now as well. The Sun Bowl Tournament features one of the better mid-major teams in the country in Akron, as well as UC Irvine that won it last year. We've always enjoyed participating in the ESPN exempt tournaments and the Charleston Classic has put together an outstanding field, including defending national champion Villanova."

The Orange and White Scrimmage will be on Saturday October 22^nd followed up by two exhibition match ups with Southeastern Oklahoma State on October 30^th, and Alaska Fairbanks on November 5^th.

The regular season starts November 12^th with Division III Louisiana College.

The Miners will then participate in an ESPN in-season event for the fifth time in six years when they take part in the Gildan Charleston Classic Nov. 17-20 in Charleston, S.C. Joining UTEP in the field will be Boise State, College of Charleston, Mississippi State, UCF, Villanova, Wake Forest and Western Michigan.

The official tournament bracket will be announced later this summer.

UTEP returns home after the Charleston Classic for four of their next five in the Don including home dates with Southerneastern Lousiana, Northwestern State, Northern Arizona and a road trip to New Mexico on December 7^th, and the first matchup against NMSU at home on December 13^th.

The return trip to Las Cruces is scheduled for December 30^th, and conference play starts on New Years Day 2017 in San Antonio against UTSA.

The C-USA schedule looks different from past years, with UTEP playing three straight league road games Jan. 1-7 and four consecutive Feb. 16-25. That is balanced out with a three-game homestand Jan. 12-21, and a four-game homestand Feb. 2-11.

UTEP will start conference play on the road for the first three games heading south to face LA Tech and Southern Miss. after opening conference play against UTSA.

UAB, Middle Tennessee, and Old Dominion will come into the Don during conference play, UTEP will only play Texas foes North Texas and Rice only once and on the road in the middle of February.

For the second straight year, the Miners will play a home-and-home with FIU and Florida Atlantic.  UTEP will also face LA Tech, Southern Miss and UTSA twice each in league action. The Miners will meet Charlotte, Marshall, Middle Tennessee, North Texas, Old Dominion, Rice, UAB and WKU once.

TV and Tip off times will be announced at a later date.

Date	Opponent / Event	Location	Time / Result
10/22/16	vs. Orange & White Scrimmage #	Don Haskins Center	TBA
10/30/16	vs. Southeastern Oklahoma State #	Don Haskins Center	TBA
11/05/16	vs. Alaska Fairbanks #	Don Haskins Center	TBA
11/12/16	vs. Louisiana College	Don Haskins Center	TBA
Gildan Charleston Classic
11/17/16	TBA	Charleston, S.C.	TBA
11/18/16	TBA	Charleston, S.C.	TBA
11/20/16	TBA	Charleston, S.C.	TBA
11/23/16	vs. Southeastern Louisiana	Don Haskins Center	TBA
12/03/16	vs. Northwestern State	Don Haskins Center	TBA
12/07/16	at New Mexico	Albuquerque, N.M.	TBA
12/13/16	vs. NM State	Don Haskins Center	TBA
12/17/16	vs. Northern Arizona	Don Haskins Center	TBA
WestStar Bank Don Haskins Sun Bowl Invitational
12/21/16	vs. Maryland Eastern Shore	Don Haskins Center	TBA
12/22/16	Akron/UC Irvine	Don Haskins Center	TBA
12/30/16	at NM State	Las Cruces, N.M.	TBA
01/01/17	at UTSA *	San Antonio, Texas	TBA
01/05/17	at LA Tech *	Ruston, La.	TBA
01/07/17	at Southern Miss *	Hattiesburg, Miss.	TBA
01/12/17	vs. FIU *	Don Haskins Center	TBA
01/14/17	vs. Florida Atlantic *	Don Haskins Center	TBA
01/21/17	vs. UTSA *	Don Haskins Center	TBA
01/26/17	at WKU *	Bowling Green, Ky.	TBA
01/28/17	at Marshall *	Huntington, W. Va.	TBA
02/02/17	vs. UAB *	Don Haskins Center	TBA
02/04/17	vs. Middle Tennessee *	Don Haskins Center	TBA
02/09/17	vs. LA Tech *	Don Haskins Center	TBA
02/11/17	vs. Southern Miss *	Don Haskins Center	TBA
02/16/17	at North Texas *	Denton, Texas	TBA
02/18/17	at Rice *	Houston, Texas	TBA
02/23/17	at Florida Atlantic *	Boca Raton, Fla.	TBA
02/25/17	at FIU *	Miami, Fla.	TBA
03/02/17	vs. Old Dominion *	Don Haskins Center	TBA
03/04/17	vs. Charlotte *	Don Haskins Center	TBA
Conference USA Championships
03/08/17	C-USA First Round	Birmingham, Ala.	TBA
03/09/17	C-USA Quarterfinals	Birmingham, Ala.	TBA
03/10/17	C-USA Semifinals	Birmingham, Ala.	TBA
03/11/17	C-USA Final *	Birmingham, Ala.	TBA