UTEP Notes For Florida Atlantic Game (PDF)
A year ago, the UTEP men's basketball team started the season by winning two of its first 15 games. Then FIU and Florida Atlantic came to the Don Haskins Center, and a pair of inspirational, overtime victories spurred the Miners to a 13-4 finish.
Fast forward to 2018, and the Miners are in a similar position with a 6-10 mark through 16 contests. And lo and behold, here comes Florida Atlantic (Thursday) and FIU (Saturday) to El Paso as UTEP seeks another bounce back halfway through the campaign.
"It's very important," Interim Head Coach Phil Johnson said of this week's homestand. "We want to play well in front of our home fans. We're back in the friendly confines of the Don. Our guys are eager to go win. We need to win, we need to get a 'W' under our belt and get back to defending the way we know we can defend. Two weeks ago, we were second in the league in field goal percentage defense and I think we've dropped to fourth or fifth. That in itself isn't the end-all, but we'd like to be near the top in field goal percentage defense."
UTEP is coming off a pair of losses at Southern Miss and LA Tech, but Johnson saw a lot of positives in the Miners' first C-USA road trip of the season.
"We got really good play from Isiah Osborne," he said. "Both he and Omega Harris played very well offensively at LA Tech. And at times we showed signs of playing really solid defense. Looking back at the film, they scored 97 points, which is uncharacteristic of our defense. But a lot of them were points off turnovers and points off of fouls. Our defense wasn't as bad as I thought after looking at the film. We just fouled too much."
A UTEP team that has made 11 or more three-pointers in three consecutive games for the first time in school history – and averaged 81 points in the process – is back to full strength with the return of graduate transfer Keith Frazier. The Dallas native, who missed the last three games on a leave of absence, is averaging a team-leading 14.5 points and 6.2 rebounds this season.
"He's back practicing with us and we'll see how it goes," Johnson said. "I think he's in good spirits. I had a nice talk with him yesterday. I want to see what kind of condition he's in. We have added a few things since he's been gone, so we'll have to incorporate him and see how well he picks up some of the new stuff that we're doing."
Florida Atlantic is the only winless team in C-USA play and stands 6-9 overall, 0-3 in the league. But the Owls dropped close contests to FIU (58-57) in Miami and Middle Tennessee (61-57) in Boca Raton. A trio of seniors – center Ronald Delph (13.2 ppg/8.8 rpg/1.9 bpg) and guards Gerdarius Troutman (12.9 ppg) and Justin Massey (12.6 ppg) – are the team's leading scorers. Delph is coming off a 17-point, nine-rebound, four-block effort against league-leading Middle Tennessee on Saturday.
"They have probably the best center in our league and that's where it starts with them," Johnson said. "I know they're going to play a real packed in defense. Troutman is a terrific shooter and Delph is a real presence at seven feet. I've watched teams and what they do to him. Middle Tennessee tried to double team him, and it wasn't that effective. And teams try to play him straight up and that's a problem. So we'll have to address how we defend Delph."
The Miners still have at least 15 games remaining, plenty of time to right the ship.
"Right now I just want to play well and get a couple [of wins]," Johnson said. "That's my focus. I think that's our team's focus. It's a long season. We've got a lot of games left. We need to play better this week and defend better."
Thursday's game will feature a halftime performance by "Acrodunk," America's favorite dunk team. Tip-off is at 7. Tickets, starting at just $8, are available by calling (915) 747-5234.
