UTEP Takes On C-USA Leader Tonight At Don Haskins Center
UTEP (13-13, 6-6 C-USA) plays a second straight game versus a first-place team in Conference USA on Wednesday when Southern Miss (22-5, 9-3 C-USA) comes to the Don Haskins Center. The Golden Eagles and Memphis are tied for the top spot in the league standings. The Miners handed the Tigers their first C-USA home loss of the season — while winning at the FedExForum for a second straight time — with a 60-58 triumph on Saturday.
The Miners have won three games in a row, duplicating their longest string of victories this season. UTEP also enjoyed a three-game winning streak from Dec. 17-22. The Miners’ longest C-USA regular season winning streak under coach Tim Floyd was four games from Jan. 12-26, 2011.
UTEP is 10-4 at home this season and 29-7 at home under Floyd, including 14-3 versus C-USA opponents. Overall the Miners are 44-9 in C-USA home games since joining the league for the 2005-06 season. UTEP has won 22 of its last 24 C-USA regular season home games dating back to the 2008-09 season.
Wednesday marks UTEP’s next-to-last home game of the season. The Miners will host Rice on “Senior Night” Feb. 29.
HAMILTON IS WEDNESDAY’S “MINER LEGEND”
The Miners will honor past great Kevin Hamilton at halftime of the Southern Miss game. Hamilton was a four-year letterman from 1982-86 and a member of three NCAA Tournament teams. He led the Miners to 95 wins and four Western Athletic Conference titles.
Hamilton averaged 8.9 points as a freshman and 8.6 points as a sophomore. He led the team in rebounding as a sophomore (5.3 avg.). Hamilton posted five double-doubles during his career. “Hambone” came to UTEP from the legendary Crenshaw High School program in Los Angeles.
SCOUTING SOUTHERN MISS
The Golden Eagles were upset by Houston, 73-71, on Saturday at Hofheinz Pavilion. Southern Miss was outscored 26-10 over the final 10 minutes of the first half to fall behind 38-27 at the midway point. The Golden Eagles battled back to take a four-point lead (53-49) with 8:40 to go before the Cougars went on a game-changing 11-2 run. Houston went 10-for-10 from the line in the final 1:07.
Sophomore guard Neil Watson led Southern Miss with 27 points, and junior forward Jonathan Mills had a double-double with 15 points and 14 rebounds. Watson is scoring a team-leading 12.2 points per game, with junior guard LaShay Page (12.1 ppg), senior guard Darnell Dodson (11.3 ppg) and senior guard Maurice Bolden (10.1 ppg) also averaging double figures.
The Golden Eagles top C-USA in free throw percentage (.757) and turnover margin (+2.9) and rate second in scoring margin (+8.6 ppg). Watson is first in the league in foul shooting (133-for-153, 86.9 percent) and assist/turnover ratio (2.4), and Page has been on the floor for an average of 36.6 minutes per game to lead all C-USA players.
THE SERIES
UTEP owns an 11-5 advantage in the series. The Miners are 8-3 versus the Golden Eagles since joining Conference USA, but had a four-game winning streak snapped with a 64-51 loss in Hattiesburg last season.
UTEP is 7-1 versus Southern Miss in the Don Haskins Center, including 4-0 since joining C-USA. The four wins have come by 18 (68-50), 11 (90-79), 12 (87-75) and seven (56-49) points. Overall UTEP has beaten Southern Miss seven straight times in “The Don.”
THE LAST MEETING
R.L. Horton scored 20 points, and D.J. Newbill had a double-double with 15 points and 16 rebounds, propelling Southern Miss to a 64-51 win over UTEP on Feb. 16, 2011 in Hattiesburg.
Horton scored 12 points in the second half as the Golden Eagles erased a 13-point deficit, holding the Miners to three field goals over the final 15:39.
Claude Britten scored a career-high 20 points for the Miners, hitting 10-of-11 shots. His last bucket, a dunk with 16:09 remaining, lifted UTEP into a 38-28 lead. A half-minute later, Randy Culpepper scored a three-point play to give the Miners their largest lead of the night, 41-28.
UTEP was outscored 36-10 thereafter.
Newbill’s three pointer with 15:25 left started a 23-4 run that ended with the Gold-en Eagles leading, 51-45, with 6:15 to play. After Julyan Stone’s driving layup cut the lead to 51-49 with 5:21 remaining, Southern Miss sealed the win with an 11-1 run.
UTEP’s top four scorers – Culpepper, Christian Polk, Jeremy Williams and Stone – were a combined 11-for-38 from the field. Culpepper joined Britten in double figures with 14 points on 5-for-16 shooting.
The Miners shot 50 percent in the first half, and opened the second period by hitting five of their first six shots before missing 15 of their last 18.
UTEP was outrebounded 37-28 and turned the ball over eight times in the final 14 minutes.
UTEP & SOUTHERN MISS CONNECTIONS
UTEP Coach Tim Floyd is from Hattiesburg, Miss. Floyd’s late father, Lee, coached the Golden Eagles for 14 seasons (1949-54 and 1962-71) and is the second-winningest coach in school history with 246 victories. Floyd spent two seasons as a walk-on at Southern Miss before finishing his collegiate playing career at Louisiana Tech.
Floyd is 1-2 when coaching against Southern Miss.
Southern Miss coach Larry Eustachy was an assistant to Floyd at Idaho during the 1986-87 season. Eustachy later was the head coach at Iowa State (1998-2003) following Floyd’s stint at the school (1994-98).
Floyd and Eustachy will be matching wits for the third time on Wednesday. In the first matchup between the two as head coaches, Floyd’s New Orleans Privateers topped Eustachy’s Idaho Vandals, 73-56, in the Great Alaska Shootout on Nov. 29, 1991. Last year Eustachy’s Golden Eagles knocked off Floyd’s Miners in Hattiesburg, 64-51.
UTEP assistant Phil Johnson and Southern Miss associate head coach Steve Barnes were both the head coach at San Jose State — Johnson from 1998-99 and 2002-05, and Barnes in-between (1999-2002).
Southern Miss senior guard Angelo Johnson played for Floyd for one season at USC (2007-08) before making his way to Hattiesburg.
