Jan. 31, 2015
Final Stats |
Photo Gallery by Michael Patrick Reese 
UTEP 83, Middle Tennessee 70 (Box Score) 
UTEP set a school single-game record by making 12-of-16 three pointers (75 percent), and also went 27-for-34 at the line in an important 83-70 victory over Middle Tennessee on Saturday in the Haskins Center.
The Miners completed the sweep of a C-USA homestand for the first time in nearly a year and reached the midway point of the league schedule.
With nine games in the books, Louisiana Tech and Western Kentucky lead the field at 8-1, with UAB 7-2. UTEP is tied for fourth place with Old Dominion at 6-3. The Miners own tiebreakers over the Blazers and sixth-place Middle Tennessee (5-4), and still have games remaining versus the Bulldogs (Feb. 26 in Ruston) and ODU (Feb. 14 in El Paso).
UTEP survived its first test without 7-1 sophomore Matt Willms, who is out for a minimum of three weeks with a stress fracture in his foot.
"We feel really relieved," UTEP coach Tim Floyd said. "It was such an important game for us, losing Matt who is such critical part of what we do. We don't have a lot of numbers, don't have a lot of guys. We're down to eight [players]. Lew Stallworth hadn't played, Hooper [Vint] hadn't been playing large minutes. Those guys played 32 minutes for us tonight, which were really big. Hopefully they gained a little confidence in doing it."
All of the Miners should've gained confidence from one of the most impressive shooting displays in school history. The previous school single-game standard for three-point percentage was .692 (9-for-13) versus Auburn in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic on Christmas Day, 2011 in Honolulu.
Julian Washburn was 4-for-4 from beyond the arc, C.J. Cooper was 3-for-4, Earvin Morris was 2-for-2, Omega Harris was 2-for-3 and Vint was 1-for-3.
The Miners also made 21 of their first 22 free throws before Cedrick Lang missed with 12:03 remaining.
The 83 points were the most scored on Middle Tennessee this season. It marked only the second time that the Blue Raiders allowed 70 in a game after they came in yielding 60.9 ppg, second in the league.
Middle Tennessee was just fine offensively as well, shooting 49 percent and scoring eight points more than its season average. Not enough on a night where the Miners couldn't miss.
"The fact that we're limited, we're having to change defenses a lot," Floyd said. "Middle Tennessee did a great job of recognizing that. The guy is a hell of a coach. We made every shot. How about just taking one of those threes off the board and giving them to us at Western Kentucky, or one of those free throws at Western Kentucky or Marshall? We couldn't do it."
Washburn led the Miners with a season-high 18 points. Vince Hunter added 17, Cooper 12, Lang 11 and Morris 10. Lang had double-figure rebounds for the second straight game (10) while picking up his sixth career double-double.
Hunter spearheaded UTEP's effort at the line, shooting 9-for-9.
"I'm really proud of Vince," Floyd said. "He's spent an inordinate amount of time working on these free throws and he's 21-for-25 the last two games. Very, very important. All of our guys stepped up with confidence. The ball really moved tonight, inside and out."
UTEP jumped out to a 10-3 lead and never trailed. The Miners built a double-digit lead late in the first half. MTSU's Darnell Harris cut it to three (45-38) by hitting a three pointer right before halftime.
UTEP took a 14-point lead (55-41) on a three-pointer by Washburn with 16:58 remaining. Middle Tennessee battled and got as close as five (71-66) at the five-minute mark. The Miners took charge after that, outscoring the Blue Raiders 12-4 behind two three-pointers by Morris and one by Cooper.
"Just overall a bunch of guys that were playing for each other, played really hard and we played against a very good defensive club," Floyd said. "It looks better than it probably is because we made every shot tonight. It was just one of these nights."
The Miners were outscored 34-20 in the paint, a misleading statistic according to Floyd.
"You've got to understand that we shot 34 free throws," he said. "We were in the paint all night long. But they don't give you those when you go to the free throw line. We were in there probably as much as they were, all night long."
The Miners will be back on the road next week, playing at Florida Atlantic on Thursday (Feb. 5) and FIU on Saturday (Feb. 7). The Florida Atlantic game is at 6 p.m. MT and the FIU game is at 3:30 p.m. MT. Both games will be televised on the American Sports Network.
FAU beat UTEP last season, 71-69 in El Paso, ending the Miners' eight-game winning streak as Marquan Botley banked in a three pointer with three seconds left.
The Miners have a little work to do defensively after allowing 70+ points in three of the last four games and 69 in the other.
"A lot of these drives have been contested with Matt in there on the back line," Floyd said. "We've got to do a better job guarding the dribble. I thought they drove us at will tonight from every spot. Some really tough matchups. Our collective defense has got to be better."
