UTEP Hosts SMU Tonight With First Place in C-USA On The Line
UTEP (18-5, 6-2 C-USA) plays the first of three straight Saturday home games on Feb. 12 when SMU (15-8, 6-3 C-USA) comes to El Paso. The Miners will also host Houston on Feb. 19 and Memphis on Feb. 26 as they continue their push for a second straight league regular season title.
The Mustangs have won five straight games and sit just a half-game back of the first-place Miners in the C-USA standings.
The Miners are starting the second half of their C-USA slate. UTEP will play five games at home and three on the road leading into the C-USA Tournament March 9-12 at the Haskins Center. UTEP is the only C-USA team with five home games remaining. Houston, Marshall and Memphis each have four games left on their home floors.
The Miners have won six consecutive C-USA Saturday home games dating back to the 2008-09 season, with the last loss coming at the hands of Memphis, 70-63, on Feb. 21, 2009.
SMU is the only team UTEP will face twice during the second half of the C-USA schedule.
The Mustangs are coming off a 66-61 win over Tulane on Wednesday at Moody Coliseum. SMU is 2-2 on the road in league play with wins over Tulsa (59-58) and Rice (75-68), and losses to Tulane (79-70) and UAB (67-53).
SMU has a potent 1-2 frontcourt punch in Papa Dia and Robert Nyakundi, who combine to average 34 points per game. Dia is fourth in C-USA in scoring, averaging 18 ppg, and Nyakundi is seventh with 16 ppg. SMU and UAB are the only C-USA teams with two of the league’s top 10 scorers.
Dia also averages 8.9 rebounds and 2.2 blocks while shooting a league-leading 59.4 percent from the floor. Nyakundi is first in C-USA in three-point field goal percentage (.470) and third in free throw percentage (.875).
Freshman guard Jeremiah Samarrippas directs the Mustang attack with a 2.0 (84-42) assist/turnover ratio.
SMU rates among the C-USA leaders in scoring defense (first, 61.6 ppg), free throw percentage (first, .748), field goal percentage (first, .488), three-point field goal percentage (first, .412), three-pointers per game (first, 8.7), assists (third, 14.3 avg.) and assist/turnover ratio (second, 1.1).
UTEP leads the series 22-14 and has won 14 of the last 15 matchups between the schools. The Miners have enjoyed a 12-5 advantage in games played in El Paso. UTEP has won seven straight over the Ponies in the Sun City. The Miners are 10-1 versus SMU since joining Conference USA.
The last two games between UTEP and SMU in El Paso have been nailbiters — a 61-58 overtime victory for the Miners in 2009 and a 49-45 win last season.
UTEP has opened its C-USA schedule against SMU in four of the last six years. In 15 seasons of conference affiliation with the Mustangs (including nine as a member of the WAC), the Miners have played their first game versus SMU later than this date only once. UTEP and SMU faced one another only once during the 1998-99 season, in the opening round of the WAC Tournament (March 2) when the teams were in separate divisions of the league.
UTEP’s Tim Floyd and SMU’s Matt Doherty will be coaching against one another for the first time on Saturday, and Floyd will also be facing SMU for the first time.
Source: UTEP Athletics
