The UTEP men's basketball team earned its first invitation to the NCAA Tournament in 12 years on Sunday.
The Miners (24-7), regular-season co-champions of the Western Athletic Conference, will face Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament champion Maryland (19-11) on Thursday at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colo.
Tipoff time is to be announced.
Ticket information will be available beginning at 10 AM on Monday by calling the Miner Athletic Club Season Ticket Office, (915) 747-6150.
"If you dream a dream, great things can happen," said UTEP coach Billy Gillispie. "I know Maryland's personnel a little bit because we recruited some of their players when I was an assistant at Illinois. They have a great program, but we have a good team too. We'll get ready to play and they'll get ready to play, and we'll tip it up Thursday and see what happens."
The winner of Thursday's game will face either fifth seed Syracuse or 12th seed BYU on Saturday in Denver.
UTEP is making its 15th NCAA Tournament appearance, and first since 1992. The Miners won the 1966 national title. To this day UTEP is the only school in the state of Texas to win a national championship in men's basketball.
The Miners' NCAA Tournament record is 14-13.
UTEP is 2-0 all-time versus the University of Maryland. The Miners defeated the Terrapins 70-53 during the 1967-68 season and 69-51 during the 1988-89 campaign. Both were SunClassic tournament games in El Paso.
|
|
