Miners Set to Tip-Off C-USA Play at Home on Thursday

UTEP Notes For North Texas Game (PDF)

The UTEP men's basketball team will open Conference USA play at home against North Texas on Thursday (Dec. 28) at 7 p.m., in the earliest launch of the league schedule since 2001.

And whether they began the conference slate early or late, the Miners are eager to put their 5-7 non-conference record behind them and start fresh at 0-0.

"Conference play, really across the country in college basketball, is an exciting time and everybody is trying to make that move to get to the NCAA Tournament," UTEP Interim Head Coach Phil Johnson said. "Everything picks up in conference play. Everybody plays a little better, everybody plays a little harder and tougher, and every game is so meaningful. This year we start right off the bat with a really good North Texas team that had a real chance to win at Georgetown and played very well, and beat a really good San Diego team the other night. They are showing signs of being probably the best North Texas team that I've seen since I've been here."

North Texas is coached by Grant McCasland, who led Arkansas State to a 20-12 mark (11-7 Sun Belt Conference) in his only previous season as a Division I head coach in 2016-17. McCasland was also the head coach at Midland College (2004-09) and Division II Midwestern State (2009-11), and an assistant at Baylor (2011-16). The Mean Green was 7-6 in the non-conference portion of its schedule (6-1 home, 1-5 away). North Texas has won three of its last four games, including an 86-83, overtime triumph at San Diego on Dec. 16. Sophomore guard Roosevelt Smart, a transfer from New Mexico JC, is averaging a team-leading 17.6 ppg. He is one of five Mean Green players with double-figure scoring averages, joining sophomore guard Ryan Woolridge (13.5 ppg), senior forward Shane Temara (11.2 ppg), sophomore guard A.J. Lawson (10.8 ppg) and freshman guard Umoja Gibson (10.5 ppg). Smart is the league leader in free throw percentage (.922) and three-pointers made per game (3.2).

"They're playing a lot harder and they're defending a lot better than I have seen them defend in the past," Johnson said. "Coach McCasland has really got them giving good effort. They have added a junior college player or two that are tremendous and they have a really, really good point guard who is a tremendous driver. They rebound the ball, and that has been our Achilles heel."

North Texas' rebound margin is +4.5 per game, third-best in Conference USA. The Miners have been outrebounded in each of the last six games, largely without 7'1" Matt Willms, who returned to practice this week.

"Hopefully we'll get Matt back at some point," Johnson said. "I don't know when that will be. I don't know if he'll play Thursday or not. We're just trying to get a few minutes out of him every day in practice."

Also back practicing is freshman guard Trey Wade, who missed a handful of games while visiting his family following the passing of his grandmother.

"We are constantly working with Trey because he has very nice talent, he's a great kid and we're trying to get him to become a better defender," Johnson said. "He has skills and I really think he can help us on the glass, and that's where we need him the most."

UTEP will host North Texas and Rice (Saturday) before embarking on its first league road trip to Southern Miss and LA Tech next week. The Miners would love to get off to a good start in C-USA play while defending their homecourt, where they have won 23 of their last 26 conference games.

If UTEP is going to make a run at the 2018 Conference USA championship, there are a few things they'll have to do better, according to Johnson.

"We'll have to rebound the ball better," he said. "We'll have to take care of the ball a little bit better, although in the last couple of games I think we have had six turnovers and eight turnovers. So those are livable numbers. But the glass in the last game was 50-30 and again, I think Matt will help us in that area. But we've got to work on just getting better overall at rebounding the basketball."

Tickets for each of the Miners' nine C-USA home games start at just $8 and are available by calling (915) 747-5234.

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