Miners Fend Off North Texas, 2-0 in conference play
Hooper Vint scored 14 of his 20 points in the second half and added 12 rebounds for his second career double-double as UTEP edged North Texas, 84-75, on Sunday afternoon at the Haskins Center.
The Miners (10-5, 2-0 C-USA) did what they had to do on the first weekend of Conference USA action – defend their home court. UTEP is 2-0 in C-USA for the sixth time and has won its last 10 home games versus league opponents.
“We’re pleased to have gotten a win,” UTEP coach Tim Floyd said. “Our guys got tested a couple of times at home. We were in close games where we had to think and play, try to play with poise.”
Vint redeemed himself after having a rough night Friday .
“He struggled the first four minutes of the second half too [ today ],” Floyd said. “He wasn’t as aggressive as he needs to be and I thought he got that way. He caught it, he made better decisions on his kicks out of the post.”
The Miners will hit the road to play two of C-USA’s top teams, Middle Tennessee and defending champ UAB, this week. They’ll continue to seek out the winning rebounding formula.
“We focus on it every single day,” Floyd said. “Coach Haskins had a saying about rebounding. He said, ‘Recruit rebounders.’ Guys that have instincts, go chase it like a dog on a meat truck, they see the ball going on the board, they just go chase it down and go get it. We’ve got to do a better job of that I would say, because we’re not chasing it. We’re watching it. We’re hoping the other guy gets it so I can run out and go to the offensive end. We keep talking about it, keep blocking it out, keep working [on] having to rebound in practice. That’s all you can do.”
The Middle Tennessee game will be televised on the American Sports Network Thursday at 5 p.m. MT. CBS Sports Network has the UAB game on Saturday at noon MT.
