THE TIP-OFF: UTEP (12-6, 5-1 C-USA), which had its school-record five-game conference road winning streak snapped at Houston on Wednesday, hopes to start another victory skein on Saturday at Tulsa (7-12, 2-4 C-USA) ... the teams will meet again on March 1 in El Paso ... UTEP is 3-4 on the road this season, including 2-1 in league play ... Tulsa is 5-4 at home overall and 2-1 in C-USA action ... the Golden Hurricane is coming off an 84-61 loss to third-ranked Memphis on Wednesday ... earlier this season, Tulsa upended Southern Miss (72-63) and Marshall (66-57) at the 8,355-seat Donald W. Reynolds Center ... the Golden Hurricane has lost three straight games, tying its longest skid of the season ... UTEP will try to get going offensively after scoring less than 60 points in four of its last five games ... the Miners are still without the services of their third-leading scorer, senior guard Miguel Ayala, who had surgery on his groin after suffering an injury versus SMU a week ago ... UTEP continues to be stout defensively, allowing 54.3 points per game in conference play ... Houston scored 63 points against the Miners on Wednesday -- the first team to tally 60 or more versus UTEP in the last five games.
ABOUT THE GOLDEN HURRICANE: Tulsa is 7-12 in its first season under former Michigan State assistant Doug Wojcik ... prior to spending two seasons (2003-05) on the Spartan bench, Wojcik was an assistant at Navy (1990-99), Notre Dame (1999-00) and North Carolina (2000-03) ... sophomore guard Brett McDade tallied 18 points (11-for-12 FTs) and senior forward Anthony Price added 15 (6-for-11 FGs) in the Golden Hurricane’s 84-61 loss to Memphis on Wednesday ... Price is averaging a team-leading 11.8 points this season, and McDade is next in scoring at 11.5 ppg ... Price is also averaging 5.5 rebounds ... junior forward Charles Ramsdell is Tulsa’s leading rebounder at 5.7 per contest ... the Golden Hurricane is shooting 29 percent from three-point range and averaging 20.1 turnovers per outing, including 24 versus Memphis earlier this week.
SERIES NOTES: Tulsa leads the series 20-8, although UTEP has won three of the last four meetings between the schools ... the Golden Hurricane has claimed 14 of the 17 matchups between the teams in Tulsa ... UTEP has won once in its last nine trips to Tulsa, a 59-56 victory on Jan. 8, 2004 ... last year UTEP and Tulsa split the season series, with the Miners winning 105-70 in El Paso and the Golden Hurricane prevailing 65-54 at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.
THE LAST MEETING: Tulsa scored the game’s first 10 points and never trailed en route to scoring a 65-54 upset of UTEP on Feb. 3, 2005 at the Donald W. Reynolds Center ... UTEP trailed 31-18 following a miserable first half in which the Miners shot 26.1 percent from the field and committed 12 turnovers ... UTEP did rally to tie the game twice, the last at 42-all on a layup by John Tofi with 10:52 to play ... the Golden Hurricane built an eight-point advantage, 52-44, on a three-point play by Brett McDade with 6:24 remaining, but UTEP wasn’t finished ... Jason Williams’ bucket with 3:38 to play cut the deficit to three points (56-53) ... with 2:21 to go and the shot clock winding down, Jarius Glenn hit a three-pointer for a 59-53 lead ... Tulsa scored six of the game’s last seven points ... Glenn finished with a game-high 18 points, making 8-10 shots and both of his three-point attempts ... he added eight assists, five rebounds and two steals in 37 minutes ... Anthony Price added 15 points and McDade 13 for Tulsa ... Filiberto Rivera led UTEP with 17 points, Thomas had 13 and Miguel Ayala 10 off the bench ... the Miners entered the game rated fourth nationally in free throw percentage (.776), but finished 13 of 21 from the charity stripe ... the ordinarily reliable Thomas was just 5-10 from the foul line ... UTEP shot 32.7 percent, committed 17 turnovers and was outrebounded 40-37, as Tulsa’s Vernell Davis pulled down eight boards in a reserve role ... only five players scored for the Miners.
AROUND THE LEAGUE: Entering Saturday, UTEP is tied for second place in the Conference USA standings with UAB (15-4, 5-1) ... both teams are a game behind league-leading Memphis (20-2, 6-0) ... UTEP hosts UAB on Wednesday, the only regular season matchup between the schools ... recapping Wednesday’s C-USA games: Mark Patton collected 17 points and seven rebounds as Marshall downed East Carolina, 72-66, in Huntington ... Quincy Davis netted 25 points as Tulane built a 16-point lead in the second half before holding off SMU down the stretch, 59-56, in New Orleans ... Darius Washington Jr. (22 points) and Rodney Carney (19) combined for 41 of Memphis’ points in an 84-61 triumph at Tulsa.
LAST GAME: UTEP committed a season-high 21 turnovers, leading to 17 Houston points, as the Cougars handed the Miners their first conference loss of the season, 63-57, on Wednesday at Hofheinz Pavilion ... fifteen of UTEP’s 21 turnovers came in the first half as the Miners fell behind 31-24 ... the Miners never led in the second half although they did make things interesting, closing to within one point three times in the first six minutes ... UTEP trailed 41-39 with 13:04 to play on two free throws by Edgar Moreno before Houston went on a 10-1 run to take a 51-40 advantage ... the Miners couldn’t get closer than four points the rest of the night ... a three-pointer by Brent Murphy sliced the Cougars’ lead to 61-57 with 15 seconds remaining before Oliver Lafayette iced the game with two free throws ... four players scored in double figures for Houston, which overcame a nightmarish shooting performance at the charity stripe ... the Cougars were 9-for-21 from the line, including 3-for-9 in the final two minutes to give UTEP a chance ... Lafayette led Houston with 16 points, Chris Lawson and Lanny Smith had 12 each and Ramon Dyer had 10 points and 10 rebounds ... UTEP had a season-high 46 rebounds and dominated the Cougars on the boards, 46-28 ... John Tofi tied his career-high with 16 rebounds ... Jason Williams finished with nine points and 11 boards, leaving him one point shy of 1,000 for his career ... Moreno led UTEP with a season-high 18 points ... the Miners shot 47.6 percent in the first half but cooled off to 32.1 percent in the second half, finishing at 38.8 percent for the game ... UTEP went 3-for-18 from three-point range ... the Miners were also 16-for-26 from the line, including 2-for-7 in the first half ... UTEP took its biggest lead at 22-18 with 5:31 to go in the first half on a layup by Moreno ... the game was tied at 24 before the Cougars scored the final seven points of the half to take the seven-point margin at the break.
UTEP IN THE C-USA STATS: UTEP leads Conference USA in scoring defense (60.2 ppg) and assist/turnover ratio (1.24) ... the Miners are second in rebounding margin (+5.6 rpg) and assists (16.4 apg), and third in turnover margin (+2.11) ... for conference games only, UTEP leads the league in scoring defense (54.3 ppg) and rebounding margin (+8.0 rpg) ... for conference games only, senior guard Miguel Ayala is second in three-point field goals made per contest (3.2); senior forward John Tofi is second in offensive rebounds per game (3.7) and third in rebounding (8.8 rpg) and field goal percentage (.620); and senior forward Jason Williams is first in offensive rebounds per game (3.8) and second in rebounding (9.3 rpg).
RECORD BOOK WATCH: Senior forward John Tofi ranks 15th in career scoring (1,180 points) ... within reach are Fred Reynolds (14th, 1,181 points) and Juden Smith (13th, 1,182 points) ... Tofi is also seventh in blocked shots (103), eighth in rebounds (731) and tied for eighth in field goal percentage (.519) ... within reach on the blocks list are Antonio Davis (sixth, 104 blocks) and Ralph Davis (fifth, 107 blocks) ... within reach on the rebounding chart are Brandon Wolfram (seventh, 734 rebounds) and Antonio Davis (sixth, 744 rebounds) ... senior forward Jason Williams is seventh in assists (273) and eighth in steals (115) ... within reach on the assist chart is Kent Lockhart (sixth, 279 assists) ... senior guard Miguel Ayala is eighth on the career three-point field goals list with 104 ... within reach is Jarvis Mullahon (seventh, 110).
WILLIAMS CLOSING IN ON 1,000: Senior forward Jason Williams is one point away from becoming the 29th Miner to score 1,000 points ... he pulled down his 500th career rebound in the final seconds at Marshall on Jan. 21 ... only 19 UTEP players have accumulated 1,000 points and 500 rebounds, including senior forward John Tofi (1,180 points, 731 boards) ... Tofi tallied his 1,000th career point against Texas Southern on Dec. 3.
AYALA OUT: Senior guard Miguel Ayala is out for the Tulsa game after suffering a groin injury versus SMU a week ago that required surgery ... Ayala is UTEP’s third-leading scorer at 11.2 points per game ... the timetable for his return is unknown.
SEARCHING FOR OFFENSE: UTEP has scored less than 60 points in three straight games and four of its last five ... the Miners have been held to less than 60 points in three consecutive contests for the first time since the 2002-03 season when they produced 54 points versus Columbia, 45 versus Air Force and 52 versus Hawaii, all at home ... UTEP hasn’t gone four straight games without scoring 60+ points since the 1982-83 season (five games in a row) ... the Miners are 3-3 this season when tallying less than 60 points ... UTEP has won three games when scoring fewer than 60 points for the first time since the 1987-88 season ... the last time the Miners won four or more games with less than 60 points was 1985-86 (five victories).
ROAD WARRIOR: After making all three of his shot attempts at Houston on Wednesday, freshman forward Maurice Thomas is now a remarkable 14-for-17 from the field (.824) in road games this season ... he is 4-for-10 (.400) from the line away from home ... Thomas and senior center Will Kimble (11-for-16, .688) are the only Miners shooting over 50 percent from the floor on the road.
WINDEX MEN: UTEP continues to be a strong rebounding team ... the Miners crushed Houston on the boards, 46-28, on Wednesday ... it marked the top rebounding total and best rebound margin for UTEP since out-boarding Tulsa 46-26 on Jan. 8, 2005 in the Don Haskins Center ... UTEP has had 40 or more rebounds in eight games this season, posting a 6-2 record ... the Miners are 12-4 on the season when outrebounding opponents, and 0-2 when they are outrebounded ... UTEP has outrebounded its last six opponents by an average of eight per game ... two Miners (John Tofi and Jason Williams) had double-digit boards against Houston on Wednesday for the third time in six conference games ... they also achieved this feat versus SMU on Jan. 11 and East Carolina on Jan. 14 ... Tofi is averaging 9.3 rebounds in conference games, and Williams 8.8 ... Tofi’s 16 boards against Houston tied his career-high, initially set versus Louisiana-Lafayette on Dec. 11 ... the 16 rebounds tied the most by a Conference USA player in a league game this season, as Memphis’ Joey Dorsey also pulled down 16 boards against UAB on Jan. 26 ... Tofi has had double-digit rebounds in eight of 18 games this season, and Williams in five of 17 games ... averaging 9.3 boards per outing, Tofi has the best rebounding average by a Miner player since JoJo Garcia averaged 9.9 rebounds during the 1996-97 season ... Tofi is only the second Miner in the last 24 seasons to average over nine boards per contest.
SHUTTING EM DOWN: UTEP has done a good job of defensing the opposing team’s top scorer this season ... in fact, only three times this season has the other team’s top scorer tied or surpassed his scoring average coming into the game, although this has happened in each of the last two games ... on Nov. 30, New Mexico State’s Elijah Ingram entered the contest averaging 14.3 points and scored 17 in a 64-55 loss to the Miners ... SMU’s Bryan Hopkins, averaging 16.7 ppg coming in, produced 21 points in his team’s 57-53 loss to UTEP on Jan. 28 ... averaging 15.8 ppg, Houston’s Oliver Lafayette scored 16 points in the Cougars’ 63-57 victory over the Miners on Wednesday ... UTEP has limited the other team’s top scorer to single-digit points six times this season, including in three of six Conference USA games ... for the season foes’ top scorers have averaged 17.1 points entering the UTEP game but averaged 12.4 points with a .393 field goal percentage versus the Miners ... 15 of the 18 opponents’ top scorers have shot less than 50 percent from the field against UTEP.
TURNOVER COUNT UNCHARACTERISTIC: UTEP committed a season-high 21 turnovers at Houston on Wednesday ... the Miners’ previous high total for giveaways was 18 versus New Mexico State on Dec. 17 ... UTEP had averaged only 11 turnovers in its first five Conference USA games ... the Miners coughed up the ball 20+ times versus the Cougars for the first time since Dec. 27, 2004 against Alabama State, when they had 24 miscues ... it ended a streak of 41 consecutive games with fewer than 20 turnovers for the Miners ... UTEP has committed 20 or more turnovers just five times over 85 games the last three seasons ... UTEP also had more turnovers (21) than assists (nine) versus Houston for just the fifth time this season ... the Miners are 2-3 when having more turnovers than assists, and 10-3 when the numbers are reversed.
ROAD NOTES: UTEP is 3-4 on the road this season (2-1 in C-USA) and 10-8 on the road (8-4 in conference play) under coach Doc Sadler ... the Miners average 9.3 fewer points per game on the road than they do at home (72.4 ppg) ... at home, senior forward John Tofi is shooting 60.7 percent from the charity stripe and on the road he shoots 80.8 percent (21-for-26) ... senior guard Edgar Moreno shoots .529 from the line at home and .789 on the road ... junior guard Kevin Henderson and freshman guard Stefon Jackson have not scored in double figures in a road game this season ... UTEP’s top two scorers, Tofi and senior forward Jason Williams, are shooting 55.2 percent from the field collectively at home and 42.7 percent on the road ... UTEP has turned over the ball 24 more times than its opponents on the road; at home, the Miners have turned over the ball 62 fewer times than foes.
SLOW STARTERS: Seven of UTEP’s top eight scorers -- Edgar Moreno, Kevin Henderson, Stefon Jackson, Will Kimble, Maurice Thomas, John Tofi and Jason Williams -- have shot better in the second half than in the first half this season ... all but Henderson are shooting better than 50 percent in the second half this season ... Henderson has committed 28 turnovers in the first half this season, and only 13 in the second half ... Williams has 27 first-half turnovers and 17 second-half turnovers ... the Miners are shooting 42.4 percent as a team in the first half this season, and 47.9 percent after the midway point.
STINGY DEFENSE: UTEP is allowing just 54.3 points per game in conference games this season ... the Conference USA record for scoring defense (league games only) is 58.3 points per game surrendered by Marquette during the 1996-97 season ... over the last five games UTEP has surrendered just 196 points, an average of 51.8 per game ... for the season, the Miners have given up 60.2 points per game with a .403 defensive field goal percentage ... UTEP’s scoring defense is its best since 1985-86 (60.1 ppg) and its defensive field goal percentage is tops since 1973-74 (.381) ... the Miners have held nine of 18 opponents to sub-.400 shooting percentages in 2005-06 ... UTEP has allowed 70 points to only two opponents this season (New Mexico, Georgetown) ... the Miners have held their last eight opponents to fewer than 70 points, their longest streak of games since 1997-98 when they also limited eight straight foes to less than 70 ... UTEP had nine games in a row limiting opponents under 70 points during the 1991-92 season ... UTEP has a current streak of eight consecutive games holding opponents below their scoring averages ... UTEP has given up less than 60 points in nine of 18 games this season, and 17 times in 53 contests under head coach Doc Sadler ... the last time the Miners allowed less than 60 points 17 times or more over two seasons was from 1991-93 (17 times, including 14 times in 1991-92) ... UTEP had 24 games holding foes under 60 points over two seasons from 1990-92.
MINERS ARE WINNERS IN THE CLASSROOM TOO: Ten of UTEP’s 13 student-athletes posted grade point averages of 3.0 or better during the fall semester.
KEY STATS UNDER SADLER: UTEP is 17-1 under coach Doc Sadler when holding foes to less than 40 percent shooting and 17-0 when holding opponents under 60 points ... the Miners are 29-1 under Sadler when scoring 70 points or more, and 16-0 when scoring 80 or more ... UTEP is 13-0 under Sadler when shooting 50 percent or better, and 30-2 when having a better field goal percentage than the opposition ... the Miners are 35-3 when leading or tied at the half under Sadler’s direction.
UTEP PLAYER NOTES: The Miners are 9-2 when freshman guard Stefon Jackson plays this season, and 3-4 when he doesn’t ... UTEP is 10-0 in senior forward Jason Williams’ career when he scores 20 points or more, 20-0 when he leads the team in scoring and 37-3 when he shoots 50 percent or better ... senior forward John Tofi has appeared in 112 games for the Miners, tying him for 17th place on the school’s games played list with Fred Reynolds. Tofi is chasing Kevin Hamilton (16th place, 113 games) ... the Miners are 8-1 when senior guard Edgar Moreno has two turnovers or less (4-5 when he has three or more), as well as 8-1 when he has four assists or more (4-5 when he has three or fewer) ... Moreno had his streak of 10 consecutive games with at least one steal snapped on Wednesday at Houston.
UTEP TEAM NOTES: UTEP is 8-1 when holding opponents below 40 percent shooting ... UTEP has allowed less than 70 points in 16 of 18 games this season (12-4 record) ... UTEP opponents have shot 50 percent or better just six times in the last 59 games (once in 18 games this season) ... UTEP has had a lead in all but one game (Syracuse) this season.
A SPECIAL YEAR: The 2005-06 season marks the 40th anniversary of the 1965-66 national champion Miners ... on March 19, 1966, UTEP -- then known as Texas Western College -- stunned heavily favored Kentucky, 72-65, to claim the crown in College Park, Md. ... on that day, Texas Western’s Don Haskins made history by becoming the first coach to start five black players in the title game ... Kentucky had an all-white starting lineup ... the 1965-66 Miners are the subject of a major motion picture, Glory Road, which was released on Jan. 13 ... the Walt Disney picture stars Josh Lucas as Haskins, Derek Luke as Bobby Joe Hill and Academy Award-winner John Voight as Kentucky coach Adolph Rupp ... the street that the Don Haskins Center resides on was recently renamed Glory Road in honor of the 1966 champs and the movie.
MINER NUGGETS: UTEP has had 22 blocked shots in the last three games, an average of 7.3 per outing, led by senior forward John Tofi (eight, all in the last two games), senior center Will Kimble (six) and senior forward Jason Williams (five) ... John Tofi has averaged 9.0 points and 8.5 rebounds in six career appearances versus Tulsa, shooting 48.9 percent (22-for-45) from the field and 62.5 percent (10-for-16) from the line. Tofi has scored in double figures twice against the Golden Hurricane, and has had single-digit points the last three times he has faced Tulsa ... Jason Williams is averaging 10.3 points and 6.0 rebounds in four meetings with Tulsa, shooting 45.7 percent (16-for-35) from the floor and 50 percent (8-for-16) from the charity stripe ... UTEP is averaging 16.4 assists per game; the school record is 16.3 in 2004-05 ... UTEP is on pace to have three players with 100 assists (Edgar Moreno, Kevin Henderson, Jason Williams) for the first time in school history ... Williams is trying to become the first Miner to log 100 assists in three straight seasons since Prince Stewart achieved this feat as a sophomore (1988-89), junior (1990-91) and senior (1991-92) ... over the last five games, UTEP’s bench is averaging 7.8 points, including a season-low two versus SMU on Jan. 28.
LOOKING AHEAD: UTEP will play one home game and one road game next week ... the Miners will host UAB on Wednesday (Feb. 8) in a nationally televised game at 8:05 p.m. MST on CSTV ... UTEP’s game at Southern Miss on Saturday, Feb. 11 will be televised in El Paso on Time Warner MetroSports Southwest Channel 24 ... following Saturday’s game at Tulsa, the Miners will be home for five of their next seven contests.
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