UTEP to play Oklahoma in Old Spice Classic basketball tournament at 5 p.m. on ESPN2

UTEP (1-1) is one of eight teams participating in this year’s Old Spice Classic Nov. 22-25 at the HP Fieldhouse on the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex, just outside of Orlando, Fla.

The Miners will open the tournament by taking on Oklahoma (2-0) on Thanksgiving Day at 5 p.m. MT/7 p.m. ET.

UTEP is 2-0 all-time when playing on Thanksgiving Day. The Miners beat Jackson State at the Haskins Center on Nov. 25, 1999 (74-58), and Saint Mary’s (Calif.) on Nov. 27, 2008 in Anaheim (75-62).

ESPN2 will have national coverage of the game with Jon Sciambi (play-by-play) and Fran Fraschilla (analyst) calling the action.

Joining UTEP in the Old Spice Classic are Clemson, Davidson, Gonzaga, Marist, Vanderbilt and West Virginia. Four of the teams (Davidson, Gonzaga, Vanderbilt, West Virginia) participated in the 2012 NCAA Tournament.

The Miners will face either Clemson or Gonzaga on Friday and a to-be-determined opponent on Sunday.

UTEP is playing in a Thanksgiving tournament for the third time in five years after participating in the 76 Classic in Anaheim in 2008 (1-2 record) and the Legends Classic in Atlantic City in 2010 (1-1 record). In the previous two events the Miners
faced squads from the ACC, Big Ten and Pac-10 conferences.

UTEP is 4-2 in neutral site games under coach Tim Floyd. The Miners were 3-1 on neutral floors last season, beating Clemson (61-48) and Auburn (83-76) and losing to Kansas State (78- 70) in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic, and knocking off Houston, 67-62 in overtime, in round one of the Conference USA Championship
at Memphis.

Oklahoma is off to a 2-0 start with victories over Louisiana-Monroe (85-51) at home and UT Arlington (63-59) on the road.