UTEP Notes For UTSA Game (PDF)
UTEP's defense has been very good in stretches, and not so good in other stretches through the first six Conference USA games. On Saturday, when the Miners launch a three-game league road swing at UTSA, they'll be looking for a complete performance guarding a team that ranks second in C-USA in scoring (83.6 ppg).
"They score a lot of points, they shoot a lot of threes, and they get down the floor very quickly," Interim Head Coach Phil Johnson said. "We've got to get back and get back to defending for 40 minutes. It's been pretty good for a half here and there, but the second halves recently have been pretty poor."
The Miners (7-11, 2-4 C-USA) will probably have to score to keep up with the Roadrunners (9-10, 2-4 C-USA), too. UTSA is led by guard Jhivvan Jackson, the highest-scoring freshman in C-USA (18.9 ppg). The product of Euless Trinity High School has scored 20+ points nine times this season with a high of 31 points at Oklahoma (Dec. 4). Jackson has scored 20+ points in four straight games and six of the last seven. He is averaging 23.0 ppg in league play. UTSA leads C-USA and rates 20th nationally with 10.4 three-pointers made per game.
If Isiah Osborne continues to score like he has in league play (16.4 ppg), the Miners can match the Roadrunners on the offensive end. Osborne picked up his second 20-point game in C-USA action when he put 21 points on the board in last Saturday's victory over FIU.
"I'm still learning about Isiah. I think he's gaining some confidence," Johnson said. "I told him the same thing I told Kobe [Magee]. He went 0-for-7 from three [last Saturday], and if he sees a shot I don't want him to hesitate. With shots, generally speaking, when you miss you're off balance. Just a little bit can throw your entire shot off. So just maintain your balance, but if you've got room in space, shoot it. And we tell most of our guys that."
Osborne showed the versatility of his game by getting to the line 10 times (making seven) against FIU.
"We have some guys that shoot the ball pretty well, and we have some guys that can drive it and don't shoot it so well," Johnson said. "We've got a couple of post-up guys. But Isiah is probably the one guy out here right now that can do both. In that game the other night, he felt like his shot wasn't falling so he drove to the basket and got fouled quite a bit. He is the one guy that can shoot it and drive it, so we put him in situations to go do both of those."
Magee will return to his hometown on Saturday night. He played his prep ball at Brandeis High School. He led the Broncos to a 93-30 record, including a 31-2 mark and top-10 state ranking his junior year. A four-year varsity starter, he concluded his career as Brandeis' all-time leading scorer with 1,876 points.
"I know he's going to want to play very well going back home," Johnson said. "He'll have a lot of family and friends there. They've got an excellent guard in Jackson who leads their team in scoring. Kobe has played against him in summer ball, and quite a bit obviously in high school as well. Those two know each other."
The Miners, who have been short-handed in the frontcourt all season, will be even more depleted with Tirus Smith missing 2-3 weeks with a knee injury. It will be a team effort replacing his production.
At 2-4, the Miners are in search of road victories.
"We're real close to being 3-3 or 4-2. It is what it is, we're 2-4," Johnson said. "But we actually could conceivably go from 11th place to sixth place with a win on Saturday night. There's a lot at stake in this game coming up, really every game from here on means a lot. We're just trying to keep moving up the ladder and go play well. It's important for me and our team to go play well on the road."
Saturday's game will be televised on KMYS-CW35 in San Antonio and can be seen in El Paso on KFOX-TV. Fans in the Sun City can view the game on Spectrum (channels 8 & 1206), DirectTV (channel 14), Dish Network (channel 14), AT&T U-verse (channels 14 & 1014) and Comcast (channels 8 & 213). Tip-off is set for 6:30 p.m. MT.
