Jan. 2, 2015
Final Stats
UTEP 85, North Texas 71 (Box Score) 
Earvin Morris scored a season-high 22 points and added six steals as UTEP won its Conference USA opener for the eighth time in 10 years with an 85-71 triumph at North Texas on Friday night.
The Miners (9-4, 1-0 C-USA) closed the first half with a 12-0 run to surge to a 44-33 lead, and were in control throughout the second half.
North Texas (6-7, 0-1 C-USA) went ahead 13-6 in the first five minutes, as DeAndre Harris scored 12 of his career-high 20 points in the fast start. Harris shot 6-for-10 from the field, 3-for-5 from three-point range and 5-for-5 from the line.
"They came out and battled us the first five minutes of the game," UTEP coach Tim Floyd said. "I coached DeAndre Harris' father [DeAndre Harris Sr.] at Iowa State University. I knew he would come play. He is a very good player."
The Miners started applying defensive pressure and scored 18 of their 24 points off turnovers in the first half. UTEP regained the lead, 21-20, on two free throws by Morris with 8:45 remaining in the half. Trailing 33-32, the Miners shut out the Mean Green for the final 2:42 of the first half and the first 2:09 of the second half. During that span UTEP outscored North Texas 14-0 to build a 13-point lead (46-33) that didn't fall below 12 the rest of the way.
North Texas outshot UTEP 53.2 percent to 50.9 percent and outrebounded the Miners 29-28. The Miners outscored the Mean Green 28-18 in the paint, 24-16 off turnovers and made 22-of-34 free throws. North Texas was 14-for-22 at the stripe.
"We got some mileage out of the zone defense," Floyd said. "I hate to say it, but it really saved us. We couldn't guard. I was a little disappointed in our man [defense]."
Morris' six steals were two shy of the school record eight. The Miners' 85 points were their most in a regulation C-USA road game since Jan. 23, 2010 at UCF (96 points).
Vince Hunter added 21 points and nine rebounds for UTEP. Omega Harris scored 10 of his 12 points in the first half. Cedrick Lang chipped in with nine points and 10 rebounds.
"We got a lot of good play from a lot of players tonight," Floyd said. "I think it was the first time we've been able to leave the ball game and look at every guy in that locker room and say `Every one of you played well.' Guys off the bench played well and played with poise. The starters played well. A lot of good things happened tonight.
"This is a very unselfish team. Omega wouldn't have minded if we started Earv. Matt Willms didn't mind that we started Omega. It's just the way we are. We've got eight guys tonight. We had to rely on all of them and they all played well."
The Miners were without Lew Stallworth, who stayed in El Paso due to illness.
Morris' final stat line was 6-for-10 from the field, 4-for-7 from outside and 6-for-10 from the line.
"Earvin is a very skilled player," Floyd said. "He has helped us a lot with his reaches and his steals. He's a long armed guy. The thing he can do after steals is go finish. He's getting better in all areas of the game. His minutes have been great."
UTEP has now won 10 of its last 11 C-USA road games. The Miners will take a shot at another road victory on Sunday at Rice. The Owls made 11-of-22 three pointers on Friday and knocked off UTSA, 67-52, behind Marcus Jackson's 27 points.
Sunday's game will be televised on the American Sports Network beginning at 1:30 p.m. MT.
