From The Broadcast Booth 2025 #2: Jon's Memorable UTEP Basketball Games

6/20/2025 4:11:00 PM

UTEP Basketball. It's been the unquestioned shining star of El Paso's sports scene since not long after Don Haskins first made his way to the Sun City to coach the Miners back in the summer of 1961. After winning nearly 76 per cent of his games over his first four seasons at Texas Western College, "The Bear" took the Miners to new heights, a historic, groundbreaking college basketball national championship in the spring of 1966. The winning didn't stop there. Haskins guided UTEP to 719 victories in 38 Hall of Fame campaigns as the Miners' coach. Since his retirement, ten additional 20-win seasons have been added. No other El Paso affiliated sports team has won more, nor captured the hearts and admiration of local sports fanatics, than has UTEP Basketball.

For me, a young, aspiring sports broadcaster just two years removed from college life at UCLA, I was very much aware of UTEP's basketball accomplishments upon being named the play-by-play "Voice of the Miners" in the summer of 1981. What I didn't know of was the ride I would take, or of the thrills and highlights that I would be so privileged to bring El Pasoans on radio and television over the next 44 seasons. Having called over 1,300 UTEP basketball games in that time, narrowing down the most unforgettable, as you might imagine, would be quite a task. Nonetheless, let's give it a go. Here are some of the most memorable UTEP Basketball games that I've described, in no specific sequence.

The first that comes to mind, without doubt, is the 1992 NCAA Tournament matchup with the Midwest Region's top-seed Kansas in Dayton, Ohio. The Miners built a second half lead, then flawlessly executed a Jayhawks staple, the four-corner offense, to frustrate Kansas and their partisan crowd in the game's final few minutes. 66-60 was the final, sending UTEP to the Sweet 16, Haskins back into the national spotlight, and it prevented the Jayhawks from playing in their "backyard" in Kansas City. Following the game, we answered phone calls on-air for SEVEN solid hours from ecstatic fans on "Miner Talk."

The legendary 1986 "paper cup game" at New Mexico's vaunted "Pit" featured quite a conclusion. UTEP's Wayne Campbell, late in overtime, missed the front end of a one-and-one free throw chance with the Miners down by one. However, while in the process of shooting, Campbell was distracted by a wadded-up paper cup that was hurled into the lane from under the basket. Veteran referee Jimmy Clark stepped in and awarded Campbell another opportunity, much to the dismay of the partisan Lobo fans. This time "Soup" nailed both attempts and the Miners escaped a 71-70 winner.

Two seasons prior, also in Albuquerque, Luster "The Pony" Goodwin drilled one from above the top of the key as the final buzzer sounded, which gave the Miners a come-from-behind 60-59 victory. My first UTEP NCAA Tournament game, in 1984, against legendary Jerry Tarkanian and UNLV, was the Miners first since 1975.

The spring of 1987 was the final time that a team would be allowed to play an NCAA Tourney game on its home floor. Predictably, the West's seventh-seeded Miners were sent to Tucson, where they would encounter the tenth seed, Arizona, in the McKale Center. Chris Blocker drilled a last-second shot from out front to send it to overtime, then UTEP pulled away, 98-91 to advance. In 1985, the Miners and BYU met in the then-named Special Events Center in a regionally televised Saturday afternoon affair. Anytime these two matched up, emotions ran high amongst players and fans and this one did not disappoint. The triple overtime game featured a multi-player fight that even nicked up one of the refs seeking to restore peace. In the end, UTEP came out on top, 97-86. UTEP began the 1983-84 season by winning its first 15 games, New Mexico State twice, Arizona, Arizona State, Indiana, and Michigan being among its victims. The Miners thus took the floor on
January 19^th at Colorado State as the nation's number four team.

In an incredible four-day span of December 1985, the nationally-ranked Miners knocked off in succession, national powers Georgetown, Ohio State, and Alabama, the latter two in the annual Sun Bowl Tournament.

Later on in that season, UTEP, which had been the host site for the first two Western Athletic Conference Tournaments, ventured to Laramie for the league championship. In the title game, "The Beast," Juden Smith sank a short shot that circled the rim seemingly forever at the final buzzer, giving the Miners a one-point win over the Wyoming Cowboys, sending UTEP back to the NCAA Tourney.

Speaking of Georgetown, the Miners slayed the unbeaten and fifth-ranked Hoyas, led by the
towering duo of future NBA standouts Alonzo Mourning and Dikembe Mutombo, 71-60 on the road in December of 1990.

Among the many UTEP Sun Bowl Tournament victories was a rout of Texas in a 1986 first-round contest, and five years later, a tight, hard-fought decision over the Longhorns for the championship. In the 2003 title game, the Miners scored the first 16 points, led 48-13 at the half and routed Big East Conference standout Rutgers.

Winning the first-ever WAC Tournament in a 44-38 decision over New Mexico in the Special Events Center in 1984.

Recovering from a 19-point deficit to overcome Western Kentucky in overtime in the 2016 50^th anniversary celebration of the '66 National Champs. Two nights earlier, the Miners outscored Marshall in a wildly entertaining 112-108 final.

In a 2003 exhibition contest, UTEP ended the Harlem Globetrotters 288-game winning streak (I missed the game due to a conflict with UTEP Football). It was the start of something big for the Miners, 6-24 the season before, going on to win 24 times, the biggest single-season turnaround at the time in NCAA history.

Don Haskins' milestone career victories. The 400^th, at Arizona State, in 1983. His 500^th, in 1987, at home against Lamar. Number 600, at Wyoming in 1992, came in overtime on an Eddie Rivera shot from near midcourt. And a Jon Bomba tip-in, as time expired in the Haskins Center versus SMU in 1998, for the 700^th.

Twice, I was able to return to my alma mater, UCLA and renowned Pauley Pavilion, where I had refined my craft as a student broadcaster. The Miners were eliminated from the NCAA Tournament by Seton Hall there in 1988, then dropped a one-pointer to the host Bruins in 1992.

Finally, from among the many in the hotly contested I-10 rivalry with New Mexico State, my future UTEP Basketball broadcast partner, Paul Cunningham, tipped in a missed free throw at the end of the second overtime in 1983, giving the Miners a one-point victory in the Pan American Center. Most recently, in February of 2025, less than a month after absorbing a humiliating 28-point home loss to the Aggies, the Miners took revenge in Las Cruces, winning in the Pan Am Center for the first time in more than 14 years.

So, those are just a few of my favorites. What are some of yours?

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