A UTEP men’s basketball team unlike any other in school history has taken its first steps, and as is usually the case in June, they were steps filled with excitement and big dreams.
The 13 new players, with zero returners to ease the transition, had their first official workout Tuesday, June 10, which came after several days of informal shirts-vs.-skins scrimmages as all these new pieces began the process of learning each other and their staff.
UTEP has never done anything quite like this before as it moves into a Mountain West Conference it has never been in before. After last year’s 11-20, well, no player in Miners gear had anything to do with that and their eyes were on the future and on the weeks to come as they learn about each other.
‘We have no knuckleheads on this team’
“It takes a while, it takes a whole summer to figure out everybody’s tendencies, when someone is going to cut or someone’s going to pop for a 3,” said fifth-year senior guard Jace Whiting, who came from Weber State after previous stops at UNLV and Boise State. “But the most important factor is the chemistry between the guys.
“I told some coaches, the No. 1 thing I noticed is we have no knuckleheads on this team. We have a great group of guys who love each other.
“It was weird how fast we clicked, we were laughing and joking with each other. It plays a big part when you’re all really good friends and want to hang out together off the court.”
Coach Joe Golding went into the offseason ready for a complete scrub and a clean slate, and here it is.
“Completely different,” he said. “There are 13 new faces, we have some new staff members. We have a lot of newness, but it’s exciting at the same time.”
Did Golding come to UTEP with a plan to build a program? Is this what he had planned after three seasons as the head coach?
So what is this time now about?
Coach Joe Golding: Make sure pieces fit
“On pencil right now, we have an idea of what things are going to look like, but we need to come in here and get together,” Golding said. “We have some talent in that room, we have to make sure the pieces fit.
“That’s the biggest challenge when you turn over the whole roster, it’s not just to get talent. You have to make sure those pieces fit with each other. We’ve done a good job with that on pencil, now we have to get on the floor. We have to make it work.
“Then trust. We have to trust them, they have to trust us. We don’t have a whole lot of time. We have this training camp that’s going to last eight weeks, so we have a lot of work in these eight weeks to do to figure each other out.”
For the players who began when they started trickling into El Paso a week ago, and while they are all new to UTEP, not all are new to each other.
UTEP basketball does have players familiar with each other
Reece Miller and Ryan Miller came together from a William & Mary team that beat UTEP last year en route to 20 wins. True freshmen Isaiah Ward, Donovan Criss and Delano Tarpley all arrived from San Antonio Brennan High. Whiting and new coach Dan Russell both were at Weber State last year.
“We’re building good relationships,” Reece Miller said. “It helps out a lot of us, we were teammates last year. We have three freshmen from the same high school, me and Ryan were teammates last year, Jace was with one of the coaches last year. Basically, half the team comes in with relationships that help build more relationships.”
Sophomore point guard Leif Moeller, a 6-foot-7 German by way of the University of Evansville, sees it all coming together.
“I’ve been on teams where the chemistry was not good at all,” he said. “I’ve been here three or four days and already have a really good connection with each other.”
He added, “I miss home, but I think El Paso is the best place to not miss home as much. I feel very comfortable here. I love the weather. I love El Paso. I love it here.”
‘You have to spend time with your teammates’
Augusto Cassio, a well-traveled senior forward from Brazil who is now on his third university (Ole Miss last year, Butler before that) and fourth country (he played youth ball in Australia and Mexico), is used to this.
“It’s college basketball: A lot of transfers, everybody going everywhere,” he said. “So you have to spend time with your teammates, you have to get out of your shell, get together and eventually you become like family, like you’re supposed to be.”
What are Golding’s first impressions of his new group?
“It comes off, right off the bat, how much bigger we are,” he said of a team that has two 6-11 players and another at 6-10, and positional size at all five spots. “The second thing is the basketball skill, the IQ and the skill. We can shoot the basketball, dribbling and passing is at a much higher level.
“That excites me. I’ve been really impressed with their character since I’ve been here. Everything gets done on time, that’s a good sign when you’re not having to chase down things like that.”
For the next eight weeks Golding will figure out how the pieces fit, then UTEP transitions into fall for the final prep for the November start to their first Mountain West season. This is an uncommonly busy time for an entirely turned-over Miner team, but it is a time full of excitement as new players build new relationships.
Bret Bloomquist can be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on X.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: UTEP Miners men’s basketball has first practice with 13 newcomers
