Miners to Challenge North Texas Saturday With C-USA Tourney Berth on the Line

UTEP Miners

UTEP Notes For North Texas Game (PDF)

UTEP (10-19, 5-12 C-USA) wraps up the 2017-18 regular season on Saturday at North Texas (15-15, 8-9 C-USA), needing a win or a Rice loss to UTSA to clinch a spot in next week's Conference USA Championships. UTEP has appeared in the C-USA Tournament every year since joining the league in 2005. Tip-off for the Miners and the Mean Green is 4 p.m. MT; two hours later, Rice and UTSA will tip off from Tudor Fieldhouse in Houston.

UTEP is 9-3 in C-USA regular season finales since joining the league in 2005 (5-0 home, 4-3 away). UTEP has won its last five C-USA regular season finales and nine of its last 10. The Miners are wrapping up the regular season on the road for the first time since March 6, 2014, when they closed with a 61-51 victory at UTSA. The Miners are 1-8 on the road this season, 1-7 in C-USA play with an 87-86 triumph at Charlotte on Feb. 15. The Miners are 34-29 in March since joining C-USA (16-9 regular season, 13-12 C-USA Tournament, 5-8 postseason). The 16-9 regular season mark includes a 7-6 record in road games. UTEP has won seven of its last nine C-USA road games in the month of March dating back to the 2008-09 season, but had its four-game win streak in such affairs snapped on Thursday at Rice. The Owls won 76-70. North Texas, meanwhile, ended a season-long five-game losing streak with an 80-62 rout of UTSA at The Super Pit.

After standing 7-4 in C-USA play following a 67-60 win at UAB on Feb. 8, the Mean Green dropped five consecutive games before knocking off UTSA on Thursday night. Four players scored in double figures for North Texas led by sophomore guard Roosevelt Smart, who tallied 22 points. UNT shot 54.5 percent from the field, including 50 percent (12-for-24) from three-point range. North Texas beat UTSA inside and out with a 34-18 advantage in points in the paint. The Mean Green is 10-5 at home including 4-4 in league play with wins over Florida Atlantic (59-53), FIU (69-67 in overtime), Rice (74-70) and UTSA, and losses to Charlotte (70-68), Old Dominion (63-60), WKU (102-94 in overtime) and Marshall (74-72). Smart is a top contender for C-USA Newcomer of the Year honors. The New Mexico JC transfer averages 18.9 ppg while shooting 40.5 percent from the field, 39 percent from three-point land and 88.1 percent from the line. Smart is averaging 19.9 ppg in C-USA play with 20-point games versus UTEP (29 points), UTSA (22 points twice), Rice (twice/42 & 28 points), LA Tech (23 points), Middle Tennessee (32 points), WKU (22 points) and Marshall (20 points). Sophomore guard Ryan Woolridge averages 12.9 ppg. North Texas is third in C-USA in offensive rebounds (11.4 avg.) and three-point field goal percentage defense (.333). Smart is second in the league in free throw percentage (.881) and fourth in scoring, and Woolridge is fourth in minutes (36.7 avg.).

UTEP is 9-3 versus North Texas, but had its nine-game win streak over the Mean Green snapped on Dec. 28 in the Haskins Center. Smart scored North Texas' final 15 points, and 29 overall, in the 63-62 Mean Green victory.

The Miners are 4-2 all-time against North Texas in Denton.

Print Friendly Version