March 12, 2008
Final Stats
UTEP-SMU Box Score (PDF)
Randy Culpepper scored a career-high 25 points and tied the school record with seven three point field goals as UTEP eliminated SMU from the Conference USA Tournament with a 71-49 win on Wednesday in Memphis.
The sixth seed Miners (18-12) advance to the quarterfinals of the tournament, where they will face third seed Houston (22-8) for the second time in six days on Thursday. Tip-off is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. MST and the game will be televised on CSS.
"What I told the guys was we've made it hard on ourselves to win this thing and we have to win four in a row," UTEP coach Tony Barbee said. "But to do that we have to play the best defense - team defense and individual defense. If they all commit to that, we will extend our stay here as long as they want to be here. By a look at the box score and by how we played defensively, we did that. We shut down a pretty good team and a pretty good guard in Jon Killen."
The Miners finally figured out how to contain Killen, who had torched them for 57 points in two games this season and 77 in his last three games against the Miners. After going 20-for-33 from the field and 13-for-22 from outside in the first two matchups between the schools this year, Killen finished with 10 points on 3-for-9 shooting, including 2-for-5 from beyond the arc.
It was a stellar defensive effort by the Miners overall, limiting the Mustangs to 33.3 percent shooting in both halves and forcing 20 turnovers. The 49 points were also the second-fewest allowed by UTEP in a game this season.
"We've defended inconsistently all year," Barbee said. "We've had games where we've been great defensively, and we've had games recently where we've been horrendous defensively. It has been night and day ... I've been trying to get these guys to play defensively and it's hard, but if you're going to be a special team that's the level you have to get to."
Culpepper was 9-for-16 from the field and 7-for-13 from three point range. He is one of six Miner players to hit seven trifectas in a game, joining Miguel Ayala, Omar Duran, Antoine Gillespie, Mark Ingles and Jarvis Mullahon.
"It felt good to get a career high in front of my family and friends," said Culpepper, a Memphis native. "When I made my first two shots, I knew that I was going to have a hot hand the rest of the game."
UTEP never trailed after scoring the game's first six points, although the Mustangs (10-20) hung around until midway through the second half. UTEP led 37-22 at the break, but SMU started the second period with a 10-2 run to pull within seven points, 39-32, on a three pointer by Killen.
The lead was still single digits (48-39) with 11:51 remaining before UTEP went on a 12-4 run over four minutes to take a 60-43 advantage on a three pointer by Culpepper - his final triple of the game.
Marvin Kilgore had 14 points and seven assists, and Stefon Jackson added 10 points for UTEP. It marked the first time this season that Jackson did not attempt a free throw as he was 4-for-12 from the floor.
"It wasn't one of Stefon's better days," Barbee said. "That's what other teams try to do to him. They try to take him out of it. They boxed and one'd and triangled and two'd him. They loaded up inside whenever he caught the ball. What happens is other guys have to step up. Randy did that today, along with some other guys."
"It was a little frustrating at times because I couldn't really get any shots off and I couldn't help my team offensively, and that's what I do for my team," Jackson said. "I'm just proud of the way my teammates stepped up and made shots."
The Miners shot 42.9 percent and outrebounded SMU 37-30. Claude Britten had a career high six rebounds for the Miners. Julyan Stone also had a solid stat line with five points, seven rebounds, two assists, no turnovers and four steals in 20 minutes.
Bamba Fall led the Mustangs with 13 points.
UTEP improved to 12-0 all-time in its first conference tournament game when ending the regular season with a victory.
UTEP and Houston split two meetings this season, with the Cougars winning 77-72 on Jan. 19 at Hofheinz Pavilion and the Miners prevailing 87-81 at the Haskins Center on Saturday. The Cougars had a first round bye in the tournament and did not play on Wednesday.
