RADIO: A&T's Spencer Turkin will bring the live action from Houston on 1400 AM and 96.3 FM. You can hear him online at tobaccoroadsportsradio.com. 
 
NORTH CAROLINA A&T AGGIES STORYLINES 

• A&T has been on the road for a long time. After exams, the Aggies left for Houston on Dec. 12. They have not come home since.  
• After Houston, they took a four-day trip to Las Vegas before arriving in El Paso, Texas, on Monday for Wednesday's game against UTEP in the WestStar Don Haskins Sun Bowl Invitational. 
• After the two games in El Paso, Texas, the Aggies will travel home and be off the road for a week before returning to the road on Dec. 28 for CAA games in Boston against Northeastern (Dec. 29) and in Hempstead, NY, against Hofstra (Dec. 31). 
• A&T returns to the WestStar Don Haskins Sun Bowl Invitational for the first since 2019, where they lost first to UTEP and then to Kent State. 
• A similar scenario confronts the Aggies this week as they open with UTEP. The winner will get the winner of the earlier game on Wednesday between New Mexico State and Kent State. 
• The two losing teams from Wednesday's game will play each other in a consolation game scheduled for 7:30 p.m. EST. The two winners will play at 7:30 p.m. EST. 
• The Aggies split their two-game stay in Vegas for the Chris Paul Boost Mobile HBCU Challenge. They won a thrilling overtime game against Texas Southern, 67-66, before losing a hard-fought game to former Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) rival Norfolk State, 70-66. 
• Junior guard Marcus Watson led the Aggies by averaging 18.5 points and 8.0 rebounds in two games on 7-for-13 shooting from 3-point range. 
• Watson hit big threes to send the TSU game into overtime, scoring six of his game-high 25 points. 
• Forward Austin Johnson hit two big free throws against TSU to send the game into overtime, tied at 57. But Johnson left the Norfolk game early with an injury and may not play during the Haskins invite. 
• Phillip Shumpert is the Aggies head coach on an interim basis. He took over the program for Will Jones in August. He missed three games with COVID but returned to earn the big win over UNCG. 
• Shumpert has been a significant part in helping the Aggies recruit some of their talent. 
• Shumpert took over on an interim basis in August. Shumpert has coached on many levels, including high school, Division II, junior college and Division I, and has head coaching experience on the junior college level for five years. 

 SCOUTING UTEP

• The University of Texas El Paso (UTEP) comes into its invitational with an 89-29 overall record in the event. They are 47-12 in the first-round game and 32-14 in the title game for 32 Haskins titles. 
• The Miners have only played three games in the past two weeks, with wins over Northern New Mexico (Dec. 3), Louisiana Tech (Dec. 17), and a Dec. 10 road loss to DePaul. 
• Guard Tae Hardy (6-foot3, 190, Ellenwood, Ga.) led the Miners against La Tech with 15 points on 6-for-12. Hardy leads the team in scoring at 13.4 points per game. 
• UTEP is expected to finish eighth out of 11 teams in Conference USA this season. 
• Joe Golding is in his second season as the head coach of the UTEP Miners. He heads into this week 27-17 after spending 10 seasons at Abilene Christian, where he went 158-144. He went 71-23 over his final three seasons there. He led Abilene's transition from Division II to Division I. 

 SCOUTING KENT STATE 

•  Kent State comes to El Pason on a two-game winning streak, winning three out of its last four games. 
• The Golden Flashes' three losses this season are against impressive teams. 
• They had a two-point loss to Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) school College of Charleston (12-1). They lost by five points to Houston, the No. 2 team in the nation at the time, and they had a seven-point loss to nationally-ranked power Gonzaga. 
• Six Golden Flashes scored in double figures against Concord on Sunday, led by Sincere Carry and Jalen Sullinger, scoring 16 points. 
• Carry leads the Golden Flashes in scoring at 17.3 points per game on 39.4 percent shooting. Carry had a season-high 31 points on 11-for-18 shooting against Baldwin Wallace.
• Miryne Thomas is Kent State's sharpshooter, making 11 threes in his last three games. 
• The Golden Flashes are expected to win the 12-team Mid-American Conference (MAC), receiving six first-place votes and 135 points to finish ahead of Toledo's four first-place votes and 131 points. 
• Rob Senderoff is in his 12th season with Kent State. He is 227-143 during his time with the Golden Flashes, winning the MAC tournament and advancing to the NCAA tournament in 2017. The Golden Flashes were MAC regular-season champions in 2015. 

 SCOUTING NEW MEXICO STATE

• New Mexico State already has a win over UTEP this season, a 95-70 win over the Miners on Nov. 30. 
• The NMSU Aggies are 3-2 since the UTEP win, with losses to West Coast Conference (WCC) schools in Santa Clara and St. Mary's. 
• They are coming off a 95-53 win over Northern New Mexico on Sunday, where Marchelus Avery led the way with 26 points and eight rebounds on 11-for-14 shooting. 
• Deshawndre Washington only had seven points against Northern New Mexico, but he leads the NMSU Aggies in scoring and rebounding at 13.5 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. 
• Three other NMSU players average in double figures in Xavier Pinson (12.2), Issa Muhammad (10.9) and Anthony Roy (10.7). 
• The NMSU Aggies received three first-place votes and 127 points in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) preseason poll to finish second behind preseason favorite Grand Canyon, who received eight first-place votes. 
• Greg Heiar is in his first season with NMSU. His only other head coaching experience is on the junior college level, where he won five conference championships and a National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) national championship in 2022. 
• He has been an assistant at Division I schools LSU, Southern Miss, Wichita State and ETSU. 

THE SERIES                 

• The Aggies are 0-2 against UTEP, with an 81-68 loss at UTEP on Nov. 25, 2009. They lost 72-54 in the Haskins invite on Dec. 16, 2019. 
• The Aggies are 0-3 against the Golden Flashes, including a 61-60 loss in Corbett on Dec. 30, 2015. 
• The Aggies are 0-1 against New Mexico State with an 84-68 loss on the road on Nov. 26, 2009.