UTEP and NMSU’s CUSA/WAC matchups for 2024-25 season

EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — The 2024-25 college basketball season will be the second edition of the two-year scheduling initiative between Conference USA (CUSA) and the Western Athletic Conference (WAC).

We are already getting a look at what the matchups for this year’s scheduling alliance will be for the UTEP and New Mexico State men’s basketball teams.

UTEP is set to play at Valley on Saturday, November 9th. UTEP’s second and final CUSA/WAC game of the season will come on December 16th when it hosts Tarleton at the Don Haskins Center.

First reported by Rocco Miller of the Bracketeer. Sources later confirmed the matchups to KTSM.

The Tarleton vs. UTEP game is expected to mark the return of one of the greatest coaches in UTEP basketball history: Billy Gillispie.

Gillispie — the head coach of the 2003-04 UTEP NCAA Tournament team — has been the head coach of the Tarleton men’s basketball program since the 2020-21 season. Gillispie is expected to be back for his fifth year after a season where his health kept him away from the sidelines.

After the first four games of the 2023-24 season, Gillispie stepped away from the team indefinitely due to medical circumstances, according to Tarleton.

Gillispie did not return to the sidelines for the rest of the season. Joseph Jones was the acting head coach during Gillispie’s absence. Jones tallied a 21-6 record during his time as the team’s leader and was named the WAC Coach of the Year.

Tarleton says Gillispie will resume the head coaching role for the 2024-25 season and was extended through the 2025-26 season.

New Mexico State is set to play at Utah Tech on November 9th and then will take on Southern Utah on December 16th at the Pan American Center in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

New Mexico State played Stephen F. Austin (73-72, L) and California Baptist (66-61, W) last year as part of the CUSA/WAC scheduling alliance.

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