Courtesy of LA Tech Athletics Communications
Louisiana Tech used a blistering shooting display from three and a balanced scoring effort to take down UTEP, 75-63, on Monday night in the Conference USA opener inside the Thomas Assembly Center on Karl Malone Court.
There is something about LA Tech (8-4, 1-0 CUSA) playing UTEP (4-8, 0-1 CUSA) in the TAC. The two matched up in the last CUSA game played that wrapped up the 2024-25 regular season. In that contest, the Bulldogs hit 12 three-pointers.
Fast forward to the league opener for the 2025-26 season and the hot-shooting ‘Dogs this time drained 11 triples, matching their season high output from deep. Six of those came in the first 13 minutes of action, leading to a 35-15 advantage over the Miners.
“I knew when we took a big lead early it would not hold,” said Tech head coach Talvin Hester. “UTEP plays with a lot of intensity and at some point, they were going to start attacking. We were shooting the ball at a pace that is hard to keep up.
“I thought where we did a good job, especially in the beginning, was that we were defending and turning turnovers into easy points. When we defend like we can defend, and we start to make shots and match that with better free throw shooting, we can make it an easier game. We still have a long way to go.”
Helping to gain that 20-point lead was Avery Thomas II who scored 11 of the team’s first 13 points, which was also part of an 18-3 run by the home squad.
However, a scrappy UTEP squad ended the half on a 13-3 run of its own to slice its deficit down to 10, making it a 38-28 lead for LA Tech at the midway point.
The Miners continued to scrap into the second half, getting to within six points on three separate occasions. With the Bulldogs clinging to a 47-41 edge with 14:41 still to play, LA Tech blitzed UTEP with a quick 8-0 run that was amplified by back-to-back threes from AJ Bates and DJ Dudley, forcing a timeout by the visitors.
UTEP would get its deficit back to single digits with 54 seconds left, but Dudley and Bates put the game away by sinking two free throws apiece as LA Tech continued its dominance over UTEP in the TAC, improving to 14-2 all-time versus the Miners at home while also making it 6-0 in CUSA openers in Ruston.
Six Bulldogs ended up scoring in double figures, something that had not been done in four years. Dudley led the charge with a game-high 18 points while Bates tacked on his second double-double of the season with 10 points and a career-tying 10 assists.
