UTEP, Kentucky tentatively set to play in ’16 for 50th anniversary of championship game

UTEP is tentatively set to play the University of Kentucky in 2016 – the 50th anniversary of the Miners’ historic win over the Wildcats. The game could be nationally televised.

UTEP Coach Tim Floyd said Wednesday that he and Kentucky Coach John Calipari are working out the particulars and that the game could be played in Maryland, just like the 1966 championship game.

In 1966, Texas Western College (later UTEP) made history when their all African American starting lineup defeated Kentucky’s all white starting lineup.

The win by the Miners paved the way for more African Americans to be recruited to play basketball and get an education at colleges in the South.

The Miners championship season was chronicled in the Disney film in 2006’s “Glory Road.”