Western New Mexico at UTEP Exhibition Open Thread

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Quotes of the week:

"We didn't guard the dribble, which is a big part of the college game, well at all," UTEP coach Tim Floyd said. "And we didn't get back and establish the defense at the 10-second line at all. We didn't front the post well. And we've got to do a better job in all those areas, and obviously play without our hands. We've got to play with our feet a little bit better."

"You want to see improvement in all areas," Floyd said. "This scrimmage will present different things from the first scrimmage in that we'll now see some zone defense and zone presses. You'd like to see improvement from the players that were out there the first time. And we'd like to be able to continue to get our guys who have not played a lot more extended minutes."

"I thought the one guy who played well was Matt Willms, given that he had just a few opportunities and took advantage of them with 19 points in 28 minutes," Floyd said. "We realize he was not playing against a lot of size out there, but he was playing against double teams. We'd love to get Paul Thomas in situations where he's back around the basket a little bit more. I thought he floated and was hanging outside the three-point line. He's got to get around the basket a little bit more and as a result, make more things happen on the offensive board. He'll find that his shooting percentage will increase and our team will score more points."

"We shot for a decent percentage in the second half," Floyd said. "Our point guards have to understand that they're there to facilitate offense and make others better. I don't like the fact that between them, the two freshmen [Evan Gilyard and Kobe Magee] only had one assist in the ballgame. That's got to be a lot better. They've got to do a better job of getting in the lane and creating plays for others."

About WNMU

It will be a homecoming of sorts for the WNMU coaching staff as Head Coach Matt Enriquez played at Bel Air High School in El Paso, while Assistant Head Coach Tyler Tafoya played at UTEP from 2009-2014 under Coach Tony Barbee for one season and current Miner Head Coach Tim Floyd the remainder of his career.

The top four scorers return from last season in junior Jordan Enriquez (El Paso, TX/Bel Air), junior Willie McCray (Clovis, NM/Clovis/Westwind Prep Academy), senior Latrell Spivey (Phoenix, AZ/Westview) and sophomore Eddie Giron (Monterrey, Mexico/Harmony Science Academy). Enriquez and McCray both averaged in double-figures with Enriquez at 12.4 and McCray at 11.5. Spivey nearly averaged a double-double for the season with 8.6 points and 9.1 rebounds. He also led the team with 15 blocks. McCray tallied a team-best 30 steals. Several freshmen made a big impact last year with Giron averaging 8.0 points, CJ Vanbeekum (Phoenix, AZ/Paradise) at 6.0, Alex Gonzalez Alvarez (Madrid, Spain/Xperia Zentro San Jorge) at 4.6 and Tyshaun Copper (Brooklyn, N.Y./Brooklyn Collegiate Prep School) at 1.8. Trevin Ramirez (Carlsbad, NM/Carlsbad) returns as a redshirt sophomore after averaging 3.1 points per game.

Five transfers join the team this season with four coming in as juniors in Davis Wade(Jackson, MS/Will C Wood), Jon-Reese Woodson (Corpus Christi, TX/Carroll), Haneef Vaughn-Wilson (Philadelphia, PA/Constitution) and O'Shayne Reid (Jamaica, NY/John Bowne), while Timothy Muniz (El Paso, TX/Canutillo) will be a redshirt freshman.

The Mustangs played one exhibition contest last season at the University of New Mexico with the Lobos taking the 113-57 victory.

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