UTEP men head to conference seeking more consistency

As UTEP heads into the games that count the most, starting Saturday with the Conference USA opener against Louisiana Tech, the Miners are sounding a familiar theme of committing to defense.

That will always be true under Joe Golding, but there is a more specific element to this.

In the seven games UTEP feels good about in its 6-3 start (which includes the opening road loss to Texas), opponents shot 25 percent from 3-point range. In the two where the Miners were blown out, at DePaul and New Mexico State, opponents made 26-of-51 3s for 51 percent.

That becomes an even bigger problem when factoring in UTEP's 26-percent shooting clip from 3-point range, something that will be hard to dramatically…