THE TIP-OFF: UTEP (6-2) hosts Mississippi Valley State (0-7) in opening round action of the 45th annual State Farm Sun Bowl Basketball Tournament on Tuesday in the Don Haskins Center ... tipoff is slated for 7 p.m. MST ... Colgate (5-6) will face Georgetown (6-2) in Tuesday’s nightcap at 9 p.m. MST ... the consolation game is scheduled for Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. MST, with the championship to follow at 7:30 p.m.
TOURNAMENT HISTORY: UTEP has won the championship 26 times in the 44-year history of the tournament, and played in the title game on 37 occasions ... the Miners have claimed the last two tournament titles ... UTEP hasn’t won the event in three consecutive seasons since 1985-88 (four straight titles) ... UTEP’s overall record in the tournament is 68-20, including 40-16 in the Don Haskins Center ... UTEP is 2-0 all-time versus Mississippi Valley State in the tournament, defeating the Delta Devils in opening round action in 2001 (89-82) and 2003 (84-63).
ABOUT THE DELTA DEVILS: Mississippi Valley State remained winless on Thursday with a 77-73 loss at Concordia University (Calif.) ... the Delta Devils are 0-4 on the road, losing to Wake Forest (78-64), Texas A&M (84-63), St. Mary’s [Calif.] (78-48) and Concordia University ... junior guard Tychicus Snow is averaging a team-leading 15.8 points per game after netting 24 versus Concordia University ... sophomore guard Stanford Speech, one of two returning starters from last year’s 13-15 squad, is averaging 9.6 ppg ... the other returning starter, senior swingman Jesse Taylor, has averaged 3.4 points and shot 30 percent from the field off the bench in 2005-06 ... James Green is in his first year as MVSU’s head coach, taking over for the legendary Lafayette Stribling ... Green was the head coach at Southern Miss from 1996-04, directing the Golden Eagles to two postseason NIT appearances.
SERIES NOTES: UTEP leads the series 3-0 ... the Miners beat MVSU 69-56 on Dec. 21, 1988 in El Paso, and followed that up with a pair of wins over the Delta Devils in the 2001 and 2003 State Farm Sun Bowl Basketball Tournament ... UTEP is facing its second SWAC opponent of the season after downing Texas Southern, 82-59, on Dec. 3 ... the Miners are 29-3 all-time versus SWAC schools ... the last loss to a SWAC opponent occurred on Nov. 26, 2002, a 67-53 defeat at the hands of Alcorn State in the Haskins Center ... UTEP has never faced Colgate and is 2-2 versus Georgetown.
THE LAST MEETING: Omar Thomas scored 24 points in 25 minutes off the bench, and UTEP received 45 points from its reserves in routing Mississippi Valley State, 84-63, on Dec. 27, 2003 in the Don Haskins Center ... it was an opening round game of the State Farm Sun Bowl Basketball Tournament, and set up a championship matching UTEP and Rutgers ... the Miners led 26-7 midway through the first half ... UTEP took a 32-point lead (68-36) on a three-pointer by Omar Duran with 11:59 to play ... MVSU crept within 15 points (74-59) on two free throws by Attarrius Norwood with 4:14 left, but could get no closer ... John Tofi scored 13 points, Jason Williams 11 and Filiberto Rivera 10 for UTEP ... the Miners had 26 assists and shot 53.8 percent to the Delta Devils’ 29.9 percent ... MVSU outrebounded UTEP 40-39, including 24-17 in the second half ... Norwood scored 20 points for Mississippi Valley State.
LAST GAME: John Tofi’s first career three pointer forced overtime, and UTEP outscored Pacific 11-5 in the extra period to upend the Tigers, 72-66, on Dec. 20 at the Don Haskins Center ... the Miners rallied from a five-point deficit (59-54) in the final 2:59 to tie the game, 61-61, at the end of regulation ... Tofi, who had been 0-for-4 lifetime from beyond the arc entering the game, buried the trifecta with four seconds to go ... UTEP shot 20 percent (1-for-5) and Pacific 22 percent (2-for-9) in overtime, but the Miners had a 12-2 edge in free throw attempts ... the Miners were 9-for-12 from the charity stripe in OT and 19-for-25 (76 percent) for the game -- their second-best shooting percentage of the season ... Jason Williams led UTEP with 24 points in 34 minutes off the bench ... he also had eight rebounds, helping UTEP to a 40-35 edge on the boards ... Tofi added 16 points and Edgar Moreno 14 ... Kevin Henderson had a solid all-around game for the Miners with nine points, five rebounds, seven assists and seven steals ... only five Miners scored and all had at least nine points ... the Miners kept Pacific’s leading scorer, senior forward Christian Maraker, in check as he was 5-for-16 from the field and totaled 10 points ... Johnny Gray led the Tigers with four three-point field goals and 17 points ... UTEP fell behind 8-0 early before battling back to take a 32-27 advantage at the intermission ... the Miners maintained the lead until 11:53 to go in the second half, when Gray’s four-point play put the Tigers ahead 47-46 ... later an 8-0 Pacific run turned a 54-51 deficit into the 59-54 lead.
UTEP IN THE C-USA STATS: Through the games of Dec. 22, UTEP led Conference USA in scoring defense (61.6 ppg), field goal percentage (.465), assists (18.9 apg) and assist-turnover ratio (1.45) ... the Miners were second in scoring margin (+13.9) and field goal percentage defense (.382) ... UTEP was third in rebounding margin (+5.2), steals (10.3 spg) and turnover margin (+4.00).
RECORD BOOK WATCH: Senior forward John Tofi ranks 27th in career scoring (1,043 points) ... within reach are Nolan Richardson (26th, 1,045 points), Mike Switzer (25th, 1,051 points) and Kimani Jones-Young (24th, 1,058 points) ... Tofi is also seventh in blocked shots (90), ninth in field goal percentage (.518) and 10th in rebounds (642) ... senior forward Jason Williams is 11th in steals (100) and 14th in assists (242) ... within reach on the steals list are Quintan Gates (10th, 101 steals), Eugene Costello (tied for eighth, 103 steals) and Kimani Jones-Young (tied for eighth, 103 steals) ... within reach on the assist chart are Juden Smith (13th, 243 assists), Roy Smallwood (12th, 244 assists), Eugene Costello (11th, 246 assists) and William Smith (10th, 248 assists).
FAST FACTS ON WILLIAMS: Senior forward Jason Williams has led UTEP to a 57-17 record over the last three seasons ... UTEP is 9-0 when he scores 20 points or more in a game (2-0 this season) ... the Miners are 17-0 when he leads the team in scoring (3-0 this season) and 38-8 when he scores in double figures (5-0 this season) ... after starting the first 72 games of his UTEP career, Williams has come off the bench for the last two contests ... he has averaged 14 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists since returning from a one-game suspension on Dec. 11 ... Williams has improved his three-point percentage from 32.0 as a sophomore to 34.7 as a junior and 54.5 (6-for-11) this season ... over his last three games, Williams is 4-for-6 (.667) from beyond the arc ... Williams needs 122 points to become the 29th member of the UTEP 1,000-point club ... he is the first forward in school history to dish out 100 assists in two seasons (112 in 2003-04, 101 in 2004-05) ... if he garners 100 assists again this season, he will become the first Miner to log 100 dimes in three consecutive years since Prince Stewart did it as a sophomore (1988-89), junior (1990-91) and senior (1991-92) ... Williams has had at least one steal in 22 of his last 24 games ... he did not record a theft against Pacific last week, ending a streak of 13 games in which he had at least one steal.
FAST FACTS ON TOFI: Senior forward Jason Tofi is only the 12th player in school history to amass 1,000 points and 600 rebounds ... he has had a double-double in four of the last six games, averaging 17 points and 11.5 boards during that span ... he has four double-doubles this season after totaling five in his first three years as a Miner ... Tofi has scored in double figures in four consecutive contests for the first time since Dec. 8, 2003 - Jan. 8, 2004 (career-long seven game streak in double figures) ... UTEP is 26-6 over the last three seasons when Tofi scores in double figures (4-2 in 2005-06) ... Tofi has been on the floor for 30+ minutes in six straight games for the first time as a Miner ... his previous long string of 30-minute games was three, twice during the 2002-03 season and once in 2004-05 ... averaging 9.9 rebounds, Tofi is trying to become the first Miner to average both a double-double and 10 rebounds in a season since Terry White in 1981-82 (10.1 ppg, 10.3 rpg) ... Tofi has played in 102 games for the Miners and made 82 starts.
FREE BASKETBALL: UTEP has gone to overtime in two of its last three games ... the Miners lost to Louisiana-Lafayette, 65-59, on Dec. 11 and beat Pacific, 72-66, on Dec. 20 ... the school record for overtime games is five during the 1994-95 season ... UTEP is now 51-33 all-time in overtime, including 18-10 in overtime games at the Don Haskins Center ... the last time the Miners played two overtime games in three outings was in January, 1996, when UTEP lost to both San Diego State (72-71) and at Wyoming (72-68) in extras ... the pair of overtime thrillers were sandwiched around a 66-62 regulation setback at Colorado State.
HENDERSON HELPING IN OTHER WAYS: Junior guard Kevin Henderson is trying to find his shot ... after hitting 50 percent of his field goal attempts last year at San Bernardino Valley College, Henderson has hit just 20 percent of his shots in his first season in a Miner uniform ... he has shot 50 percent or better just once this season -- on Dec. 17 versus New Mexico State, when he made three of his six field goal tries ... with his shot not going down, Henderson has found other ways to help his team ... on Dec. 20 against Pacific, he had his best all-around performance of the season with nine points, five rebounds (four offensive), seven assists and a career-high seven steals ... the seven steals are tied for the second-top game total in school history ... over the last two games, Henderson has had 12 steals to surpass Edgar Moreno for the team lead with 23 (2.9 per game) ... Henderson also leads UTEP with 38 assists (4.8 per game) ... despite his struggles from the field, Henderson is the Miners’ second-best foul shooter at 71.4 percent ... Henderson has had more assists than turnovers in five of eight games, and has had two turnovers or fewer in six of eight outings.
BETTER TO GIVE THAN RECEIVE: UTEP is averaging 18.9 assists per game this season ... at their current pace, the Miners would shatter the school record for assists per game (16.3) established a year ago ... UTEP has had 18 assists or more in six of eight games, and 20+ on three occasions ... the Miners set a school standard with 29 dimes against UT-Permian Basin on Nov. 21 ... the previous record of 28 assists was achieved on three occasions, most recently on Nov. 16, 2001 versus Arkansas-Pine Bluff ... three Miner players are on pace to dish out 100 assists this year -- Kevin Henderson (38 currently), Edgar Moreno (37) and Jason Williams (29) ... UTEP has never had three players record 100 assists in a season ... the closest the Miners have come to achieving this milestone was in 1990-91 when Johnny Melvin had 102 assists, Gym Bice had 101 and Henry Hall had 93 ... the Miners have had more assists than turnovers in all but one game this season (at New Mexico) ... over the last two seasons, UTEP has registered more assists than turnovers in 36 of 43 games ... only three of the 13 Miners who have seen action this season have more turnovers than assists (Will Kimble, Brent Murphy, Maurice Thomas) ... the current guard rotation of Henderson, Moreno and Miguel Ayala has teamed for a sparkling 90-45 assist-turnover ratio.
MORENO ROUNDING INTO FORM: Senior guard Edgar Moreno’s season got off to a slow start as he recovered from late-summer hernia surgery ... lately, though, he has resembled the player who tied for the team scoring lead (17 ppg) on the Miners’ August trip to Spain ... Moreno has shot 52 percent (16-for-31) from the field and 60 percent (6-for-10) from three-point land over the last four games ... he has scored in double figures in two of the last three games, averaging 12.0 ppg during that span ... Moreno’s minutes per game have also escalated from 27.4 in the first five contests to 35.7 in the last three as his conditioning continues to improve ... he is second on the team in assists (4.6 apg) and steals (2.0 spg) ... Moreno is in his first and final year as a Miner after transferring to UTEP from the University of Texas.
DOMINANCE IN THE DON: UTEP is 5-1 at home this season and 37-4 in the Don Haskins Center since the start of the 2003-04 season ... UTEP is 21-2 in non-conference home games since 2003-04 (13-2 under Doc Sadler) ... the Miners have posted an all-time record of 384-114 (.771) in the Haskins Center, which opened on Feb. 3, 1977 ... the Miners will play their 500th game in “The Don” on Wednesday against either Colgate or Georgetown ... the Miners have averaged 78.0 points per game at home this season while allowing an average of 60.3 for a scoring margin of +17.7 ppg ... UTEP has held three of six home opponents under 60 points this season ... under Doc Sadler, UTEP has limited 10 of 24 home opponents to less than 60 points ... opponents are shooting 37.5 percent from the field and 37.1 percent from three point territory at UTEP this season ... UTEP’s rebound margin is +5.2 at home in 2005-06 ... UTEP has forced 112 turnovers in six home games (18.7 avg.), while committing just 73 turnovers (12.2 avg.).
WHO PLAYS WELL IN THE DHC: Five Miners are averaging at least 9.5 points per game at home this season, led by Jason Williams (16.2 ppg) ... Stefon Jackson is averaging 15.0 ppg, John Tofi 14.7 ppg, Edgar Moreno 9.5 ppg and Miguel Ayala 9.5 ppg ... Williams is shooting 63.5 percent from the field and is 6-for-9 from three-point land at home ... Tofi is averaging 10.0 rebounds per game on the home court ... Moreno is shooting 51.1 percent from the field and 50 percent (7-for-14) from three-point range at home ... on the road, Moreno is shooting 27 percent (4-for-15) from the floor and has missed all three of his attempts from beyond the arc ... Williams, Moreno and Kevin Henderson are all averaging 4.6 assists per game in the Haskins Center, and Henderson is averaging 3.5 steals per home contest.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WINNING AND LOSING: UTEP has averaged over 13 more points per game in its wins than its losses ... the Miners have a rebound margin of +7.2 per game in their six victories, and a negative rebound margin (-0.5) in their two defeats ... UTEP has also forced nearly 19 turnovers per game in its wins, compared to 12 per game in losses ... three Miner players (Miguel Ayala, Will Kimble, John Tofi) have higher scoring averages in losses than in wins ... Ayala is averaging 17.0 points in losses, 9.0 in wins ... Jason Williams is averaging 16.2 points in victories and 8.0 points in defeats (Williams did not play in the loss to Louisiana-Lafayette while serving a suspension).
MINERS CONTROLLING THE GLASS: UTEP has outrebounded seven of its first eight opponents this season ... the only team to outrebound the Miners was Louisiana-Lafayette by a 44-41 margin on Dec. 11 ... UTEP has had 40 rebounds or more in six games ... last season, the Miners managed 40+ boards just seven times in 35 contests ... UTEP’s current rebound margin of +5.2 is its best since 1981-82 (+6.5) ... six Miners are averaging over three rebounds per game, including guards Miguel Ayala (3.3 rpg) and Kevin Henderson (3.5 rpg).
MINERS STRUGGLING AT THE LINE: UTEP is shooting 64.4 percent from the line this season -- a year after leading the nation in free throw accuracy at 79.2 percent ... UTEP’s current free throw percentage is its worst since 1980-81 (.642) ... two Miners are shooting better than 70 percent from the foul line -- Miguel Ayala (.810) and Kevin Henderson (.714) ... UTEP guards are shooting 68.9 percent (42-for-61) from the charity stripe collectively, and frontcourt players are shooting 62.2 percent (74-for-119) ... freshman forward Maurice Thomas ranks second on the team in free throw attempts (34) despite averaging only 16 minutes per game ... Thomas is averaging 10.6 free throw attempts per 40 minutes of play ... the Miners made 76 percent (19-of-25) of their freebies the last time out versus Pacific, their second-best effort of the season ... UTEP shot a season-high 81.3 percent (13-for-16) from the charity stripe on Nov. 30 at New Mexico State ... the Miners have gone to the line 25 times or more in each of their last four contests ... during that span UTEP has shot 110 foul shots (27.5 per game), while opponents have attempted 53 (13.3 per game) ... the Miners have made more free throws (73) than their opponents have attempted (53) over the last four outings ... the last time UTEP shot 25+ free throws in four straight games was from Dec. 6, 2003 - Jan. 8, 2004 (eight straight games).
OPPONENTS BOMBING AWAY: UTEP foes are averaging 22.9 three-point attempts per game ... since the advent of the three-point line during the 1986-87 season, only once have Miner opponents averaged over 20 three-point tries in a season (20.3 in 1998-99) ... six of UTEP’s eight opponents in 2005-06 have attempted at least 21 three-point shots, including a season-high 31 tries by Louisiana-Lafayette on Dec. 11 ... the 31 three-point attempts by the Ragin’ Cajuns were the most by a Miner foe since Oklahoma Panhandle State launched 32 bombs on Dec. 12, 2004.
THE SNIPER: Senior guard Miguel Ayala has attempted 45 shots this season -- and 41 have come from beyond the three-point line ... for his career, 206 of his 248 field goal attempts (83 percent) have been trifectas ... Ayala has now made 80-of-206 three-point tries (.388) in 41 games for the Miners ... with four more three-pointers made, Ayala will tie for 14th place on the school’s career chart ... hampered by a sprained ankle, Ayala was held scoreless in 28 minutes versus Pacific on Dec. 20 ... it marked only the fourth time in his Miner career -- and the first time this season -- that Ayala has failed to score ... he has made at least one three-pointer in 25 of his last 29 outings ... Ayala has shot 50 percent or better from three-point range 15 times in his Miner career, and scored in double figures on 16 occasions.
KEY STATS UNDER SADLER: UTEP is 14-1 under coach Doc Sadler when holding foes to less than 40 percent shooting ... only two teams (New Mexico and Pacific) have shot 40 percent or better against the Miner defense this season ... UTEP’s defensive field goal percentage is .382 ... the Miners haven’t held opponents to less than 40 percent accuracy since 1973-74 (.381) ... UTEP is also 26-1 under Sadler when scoring 70 points or more, and 12-0 when holding foes under 60 points.
A SENIOR BALLCLUB: Seniors have scored 73.5 percent (444 of 604) of UTEP’s points this season ... UTEP’s top three scorers are seniors for the first time since 1991-92, when Marlon Maxey (15.2 ppg), David Van Dyke (13.9 ppg) and Prince Stewart (11.5 ppg) headed up the point production.
STEALING IS LEGAL HERE: UTEP is averaging 10.3 steals per game in 2005-06 led by Kevin Henderson, who has 23 thefts (17 in the last four games) ... UTEP has never averaged 10+ steals per game in a season ... the Miners set the school record by averaging 8.9 thefts per contest during the 1986-87 campaign ... UTEP has recorded 10 or more steals in five games this season, posting a 5-0 mark.
A NEW LEAGUE: The Miners are competing in the relaunched Conference USA this season after spending the previous 36 years as members of the Western Athletic Conference ... UTEP won eight WAC regular season titles (1970-1983-1984-1985-1986-1987-1992-2004) and five WAC tournament trophies (1984-1986-1989-1990-2005) ... UTEP is beginning its third conference affiliation during the 2005-06 season ... the Miners were also a part of the Border Conference from 1935-62 ... UTEP enjoyed independent status from 1962-69 prior to joining the WAC.
UTEP PICKED FOURTH: The Miners are projected to finish fourth in Conference USA this season, based on the preseason coaches’ poll ... UTEP tallied 111 points in the poll ... Memphis is the unanimous favorite to capture the league crown, scoring 144 points and all 12 first-place votes ... UAB has been picked second (126 points) and Houston third (119).
A SPECIAL YEAR: The 2005-06 season marks the 40th anniversary of the 1965-66 national champion Miners ... on March 19, 1966, UTEP -- then known as Texas Western College -- stunned heavily favored Kentucky, 72-65, to claim the crown in College Park, Md. ... on that day, Texas Western’s Don Haskins made history by becoming the first coach to start five black players in the title game ... Kentucky had an all-white starting lineup ... the 1965-66 Miners are the subject of a major motion picture, Glory Road, scheduled to be released on Jan. 13 ... the Walt Disney picture stars Josh Lucas as Haskins, Derek Luke as Bobby Joe Hill and Academy Award-winner John Voight as Kentucky coach Adolph Rupp.
MINER NUGGETS: UTEP’s bench is averaging 27 points per game ... the Miners have had an edge in bench points in six of eight contests ... over the last two games, freshman forward Maurice Thomas has averaged 11 points and 5.0 rebounds off the bench while shooting 71.4 percent (5-for-7) from the field and 70.6 percent (12-for-17) from the charity stripe ... Thomas’ 12 free throw attempts against Pacific on Dec. 20 were the most by a Miner reserve since Omar Thomas went to the line 13 times versus Maryland in the first round of the 2004 NCAA Tournament ... Jason Williams’ 24 points off the bench against Pacific were the most by a Miner player since Omar Thomas collected 32 off the pine at Louisiana Tech on Feb. 26, 2004 ... only five players scored versus Pacific, the first time that has happened since Feb. 3, 2005 at Tulsa ... UTEP is 9-2 in December under coach Doc Sadler ... UTEP trailed by eight points twice (8-0, 10-2) before rallying to beat Pacific, marking the fifth game under Doc Sadler that UTEP has overcome deficits of eight points or more to win. Last season the Miners trailed Arizona State by 10 points, IPFW by 10 points, Hawaii by nine points and San Jose State by 11 points before battling back to win all four games ... UTEP has led in every game this season, and led wire-to-wire on two occasions (both victories over New Mexico State).
LOOKING AHEAD: UTEP will face either Colgate or Georgetown in the State Farm Sun Bowl Basketball Tournament Wednesday, concluding a six-game homestand ... the Miners will begin a demanding stretch of three straight road games on Jan. 1 ... UTEP will play at Texas Tech on Jan. 1, Syracuse on Jan. 4 and open conference play at SMU on Jan. 11.
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