Miners, 49ers to Duel in Crucial C-USA Game

UTEP Miners

UTEP Notes For Charlotte Game (PDF)

The similarities between UTEP and Charlotte, who will meet on Thursday night at Halton Arena, are many.

Both teams are hungry for a win. UTEP has lost six consecutive games, and Charlotte is riding a 10-game skid.

Both teams desperately need a victory to increase their chances of making the Conference USA Tournament, which is only a few weeks away. The Miners are tied for 12th place in the league standings, and Charlotte is in 14th place. The top 12 teams advance to the championship March 7-10 in Frisco.

And both teams have interim head coaches – Phil Johnson for the Miners, and Houston Fancher for the 49ers.

Charlotte (5-18, 1-11 C-USA) may not have a lot of wins, but it does have a dynamite guard tandem in juniors Jon Davis (16.1 ppg) and Andrien White (13.8 ppg). Davis is averaging 18.9 ppg and White 15.6 ppg versus league opponents, or a combined 45 percent of the team total.

"When you're going up against a good backcourt like Charlotte has and you're on the road, it's going to present some real challenges," Johnson said. "I've always felt like guard play is the most critical thing towards winning. Houston Fancher has head coaching experience at Appalachian State. He has done a nice job holding this team together. They run some good stuff, they're at home and they're desperate for a win like we are."

Davis is shooting 37.7 percent from the field, 32.4 percent from three-point range and 74.5 percent from the line. White is shooting 42.6 percent from the floor, 33.3 percent from beyond the arc and 76.2 percent from the charity stripe.

"Jon Davis would be All-League if the team were put out right now. There's no question about it," Johnson said. "He's capable of scoring a lot of points. He is averaging about 19 in conference play. He has had some games with 30-plus [points]. He is a guy that we've seen in the past, and have had issues with him.

"White is another guard that's capable of shooting it deep and driving it. So our guys will have to do a great job. They don't have a true center presence, although they have a big guy [Jailan Haslem] who's about 6-9, 250 and a real load. But he's not a scorer as much as some of the other guys that we've seen. He does a good job, but it all really starts in their backcourt."

UTEP is battling Charlotte and Rice for a spot in the C-USA Tournament. The Miners will be on the road for four of the last six games. Charlotte and Rice will be home for four of the last six. But the combined win percentage of the Miners' remaining opponents (.477) is less than that of Charlotte and Rice (.513).

The Miners are 0-6 on the road this season. UTEP also lost its first six road games during the 2016-17 season, then rebounded to win its last five. UTEP is 0-5 in C-USA road games for the fourth time; this also happened during the 2007-08, 2011-12 and 2015-16 seasons. In each previous occurrence, the Miners posted a victory in their sixth league road game – in 2008 (at Marshall, 79-76), 2012 (at Memphis, won 60-58) and 2016 (at FIU, won 84-74).

They'll try to break through on their sixth try once again on Thursday night. The game can be seen on ESPN3, with tip-off set at 5 p.m. MT.

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