Crawford leads Louisiana Tech against UTEP

UTEP Miners (11-8, 2-2 CUSA) at Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (13-6, 3-1 CUSA)

Ruston, Louisiana; Thursday, 7 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Louisiana Tech plays the UTEP Miners after Isaiah Crawford scored 30 points in Louisiana Tech’s 74-57 win against the Jacksonville State Gamecocks.

The Bulldogs have gone 9-0 at home. Louisiana Tech averages 75.9 points while outscoring opponents by 11.7 points per game.

The Miners are 2-2 in CUSA play. UTEP ranks eighth in the CUSA shooting 31.7% from 3-point range.

Louisiana Tech averages 7.6 made 3-pointers per game, 2.1 more made shots than the 5.5 per game UTEP allows. UTEP has shot at a 46.4% rate from the field this season, 7.0 percentage points greater than the 39.4% shooting opponents of Louisiana Tech have averaged.

The Bulldogs and Miners square off Thursday for the first time in CUSA play this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Crawford is scoring 15.9 points per game and averaging 5.7 rebounds for the Bulldogs. Daniel Batcho is averaging 15.8 points and 9.3 rebounds over the last 10 games for Louisiana Tech.

Zid Powell is averaging 11.4 points, 3.1 assists and 1.6 steals for the Miners. Tae Hardy is averaging 16.4 points over the last 10 games for UTEP.

LAST 10 GAMES: Bulldogs: 6-4, averaging 76.5 points, 37.8 rebounds, 12.4 assists, 7.3 steals and 5.5 blocks per game while shooting 46.3% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 67.5 points per game.

Miners: 5-5, averaging 69.8 points, 27.2 rebounds, 10.0 assists, 12.2 steals and 2.4 blocks per game while shooting 44.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 71.4 points.

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.