UTEP Vs. Memphis Basketball To Be Broadcast On ABC 7
By Darren Hunt
EL PASO — ABC-7 has finalized a deal that will allow the station to broadcast Saturday’s UTEP basketball game at No. 1 Memphis.
The game is scheduled to tip off at 11 a.m. El Paso time.
The Miners improved to 13-6 overall and 4-2 in Conference USA play Wednesday night with a 90-79 win over Southern Mississippi. Memphis is undefeated at 20-0 overall and 6-0 in league play.
“It’s the UTEP athletic department that’s stepping up,” ABC-7 General Manager Kevin Lovell said Thursday. “We’re providing the time and resources and displacing our programming.”
Lovell pointed out that it’s been about 15 years since ABC-7 has had the privilege of broadcasting a UTEP basketball game. He also credited ABC-7 news partner KROD.
“KROD’s Steve Kaplowitz was the one who got the ball rolling on this,” Lovell said. “The timing was perfect. We were able to do it in our existing schedule.”
UTEP hasn’t faced the No. 1 team in the country since 1979, when they lost at Indiana, 75-43. The Miners also were beaten by a No. 1 ranked Indiana team (78-53) in the first round of the 1975 NCAA Tournament.
UTEP’s only other meeting with a No. 1 team came in the 1966 NCAA Championship game when the Miners defeated top-ranked Kentucky, 72-65.
