UTEP legend Tim Hardaway returns to El Paso to support the team

UTEP legend Tim Hardaway doesn’t often get a chance to return to the Borderland, so he’s happy he could make it work this week.

“I’m always happy to come back. This is like a second home to me. This is really where my career started off, you know, playing the game of basketball,” said Hardaway, who was born in Chicago and now lives in Michigan.

Hardaway will be attending the final home game of the season for the UTEP men’s basketball team Wednesday night at 7 p.m. as they take on Middle Tennessee. It’s his first chance to return to El Paso since UTEP retired his jersey in January of 2012.

Hardaway is expected to sign autographs after the game for the first 1,000 fans that line up on the Haskins Center concourse in an event made possible by GECU.

The legendary point guard is fifth all-time in scoring at UTEP and second in program history in assists. To this day, he is still the all-time leader in steals in UTEP history.

Of course, he would go on to great success in the NBA, becoming a five-time All-Star who eventually had his jersey retired by the Miami Heat.

But it all started at UTEP under Don Haskins. Hardaway and Haskins combined to lead the Miners to the NCAA Tournament all four seasons in which Hardaway called El Paso home.

While fans are eager to return to that kind of success, Hardaway says he is a big believer in first-year head coach Rodney Terry’s ability to get them there.

“You know, this is his first year. Give him a chance. Everywhere he went, he won,” said Hardaway. “I mean, you’ve got to give him at least three or four years to get his system in.”

The Miners have had a tough 2018-19 campaign that saw them eliminated from even appearing in the Conference USA Tournament with a loss over the weekend to Charlotte.

But Hardaway is hoping that he’ll get a chance to speak to some of the young players to instill confidence in the coming years.

“You’ve got to have confidence to go out there and play. You can’t be getting pushed around, shoved around,” he said. “You’ve got to go out there and play the game like you know how to play it.”