Michael Jordan’s Son, UCF To Play UTEP At Haskins Center At 11 a.m. Today
UTEP (20-6, 8-3 C-USA) meets UCF (16-9, 3-9 C-USA) in a President’s Day matinee on Monday at the Don Haskins Center. The game was originally scheduled to be played on Feb. 2 but was postponed after arctic temperatures gripped El Paso and caused power outages throughout the city.
The Miners and the Knights are meeting for the lone time in league play. UCF is completing a three-game road swing that began with a 65-62 win at Tulane last Wednesday. The Knights fell at UAB, 63-58, on Saturday. UCF is 3-5 on the road this season, including 1-5 in C-USA action.
Immediately following Monday’s game, the Miners will depart for Greenville, N.C. for a Wednesday night matchup at East Carolina. UTEP will play its fourth game of the week on Saturday when Memphis comes to El Paso for a highly-anticipated nationally televised (ESPN2) game.
The Miners reclaimed first place in the C-USA standings with a 76-64 victory over Houston on Saturday in the Haskins Center. Earlier in the evening, Memphis (20-7, 8-4) was upset at Rice, 67-52, and fell from first place in the league into a tie for fourth. Southern Miss (20-6, 9-4) and UAB (19-7, 9-4) are tied for second place in C-USA, percentage points behind the Miners and a full game back in the loss column.
The Knights have struggled since rocketing to 14 straight wins and a no. 19 national ranking to start the season. UCF is 2-9 since, although the Knights have won two of three games following a month-long eight-game losing streak.
Sophomore guard Marcus Jordan (15.7 ppg, son of NBA great Michael Jordan) and sophomore forward Keith Clanton (14.3 ppg) have accounted for 43 percent of UCF’s points this season. Senior center Tom Herzog, a Michigan State transfer, has been a significant addition inside. Herzog and Clanton have combined for 102 blocks for a UCF team that ranks among the national leaders in rejections — averaging 6.3 per contest.
The Knights have been a solid defensive team, yielding 62.1 ppg with a .395 opponents’ field goal percentage, although those numbers have increased to 67.9 ppg and .433 in C-USA action.
UTEP leads the series 4-3 and has won the last three matchups between the schools. The Miners beat the Knights twice last season — 96-59 in Orlando and 76-54 in the quarterfinals of the Conference USA Tournament in Tulsa. UTEP is 2-1 all-time versus UCF in El Paso.
UTEP’s Tim Floyd is 4-0 in his coaching career against UCF. All four matchups took place during the 1990-91 and 1991-92 seasons, when Floyd was the head coach at New Orleans and UCF was also a member of the Sun Belt Conference.
Source: UTEP Athletics
