Nov. 30, 2008
Final Stats
UTEP-Arizona State Box Score (PDF)
Arizona State -- and James Harden specifically -- was too much for UTEP in the third place game of the 76 Classic on Sunday night in Anaheim.
Harden poured in 40 points as the 14th-ranked Sun Devils cruised to an 88-58 win over the Miners. He finished 14-for-25 from the field, 6-for-7 from three point territory and 6-for-6 from the line as Arizona State bounced back from an 87-78 loss to Baylor in the second round of the tournament Friday.
"Ugly game ... I don't know what else to say," UTEP coach Tony Barbee said. "Our transition defense was bad again. It has killed us all season long to this point, and we gave up way too many easy buckets in transition. We didn't recognize and get to their shooters early.
"We did some good things offensively, moving the ball and getting the ball baseline and in the post, we got it in the middle of the lane. We got some open looks and the shots didn't go down and that's what Arizona State's zone is designed to do, making you shoot a low percentage. But our defense was inexcusable. We gave up layup after layup. It's back to the drawing board ... we have some tough games ahead, and we move on."
It was a disappointing finish to what was otherwise a solid tournament for UTEP (3-3), which went 1-2 against three 2008 NCAA Tournament teams, including a 75-62 victory over Saint Mary's and a hard-fought 82-79 setback to 19th-rated Wake Forest.
"It was a great event," Barbee said. "We gained a lot of valuable experience. We proved to ourselves that on any given night, when we're doing our jobs and getting after it defensively, that's we're as good as anyone around. And when our transition defense isn't there, we're going to give up a lot of points."
The Miners took an 18-11 lead six minutes into the first half on a basket by Gabriel McCulley before Arizona State (5-1) went on a 19-2 run, capped by a Harden three pointer, to forge a 30-20 advantage with 9:45 remaining in the period.
UTEP trailed 46-37 at the half, and 50-42 with 17:43 to play after Kareem Cooper scored. But ASU regained a double-digit lead that would stand for the rest of the night on Harden's layup at the 17:14 mark.
The Miners continued to stay within striking distance until the Sun Devils blew the game open with a 9-0 spurt, turning a 64-51 lead into a 73-51 margin. UTEP went four minutes without scoring before Julyan Stone hit a free throw with 7:04 left.
Arizona State outscored UTEP 24-7 over the final 11:02.
Randy Culpepper scored 17 of his 24 points in the first half to lead the Miners. He made his first five shots and scored 14 of UTEP's first 16 points.
But Culpepper missed 12 of his final 15 shots and didn't receive much help from his teammates, who were a combined 8-for-33 from the floor. The Miners shot 24 percent in the second half and 30.2 percent for the game.
Stefon Jackson was UTEP's only other double figure scorer with 13 points, but he was 1-for-12 from the field. Jackson made all 11 of his free throw attempts.
Ty Abbott scored 12 points for Arizona State, which made 13 three pointers, shot 49.2 percent and outrebounded the Miners 41-31.
"I was really pleased with the way our guys responded and bounced back today," Arizona State coach Herb Sendek said. "I don't want to take anything away from Baylor, they played a terrific basketball game, but we certainly didn't feel good about our performance the other night. Today, I thought our defense was much better. UTEP is a very difficult team to guard. In fact, we had a difficult time keeping them off the free throw line, but we held them to low percentages. Obviously, the difference with us in addition to the defense was James Harden. He just had a remarkable game and it was mesmerizing to watch."
The Miners will return to action on Saturday, hosting Sam Houston State at 7:05 p.m. The Bearkats were 23-6 last season.
