Knight Court | Covering UTEP Basketball

Floyd Absent

UTEP coach Tim Floyd has been in Hattiesburg, Miss., since Sunday with his mother. The 88-year-old Alice Floyd has been ill.

The Miners are lucky to have Phil Johnson, a former head coach at San Jose State and a trusted friend of Floyd, to run practices in the interim — along with assistants Greg Foster and Ken DeWeese.

UTEP will practice at 12 noon Thursday, then leave for Memphis for Saturday's 12 noon (CST) game. The Tigers were in New Orleans Wednesday night, dusting Tulane 82-64 and will also travel back to Memphis Thursday.

Ugliest game of the season

UAB beat SMU 47-28 Wednesday night in Dallas. How does a team score only 28 points in the shot clock era. Whoa ... that had to be bad. After all, 47 points in 40 minutes is not exactly heart-stopping. But 28?

Poor Tulsa

Southern Miss made a 3-pointer in the final second to send the game into overtime, then defeated Tulsa 77-69 Wednesday night in Hattiesburg. It has been a hard-luck year for the Hurricane.

 

 

Down the Stretch

The Conference USA race is interesting as we move into the final three weeks of the regular season.

Southern Miss and Memphis are in a duel for the top spot, each at 8-2 in league play. Tulsa, though, is right there at 8-3. UCF is a long shot at 7-4.

UTEP is in a middle of the pack battle. Marshall and Rice are each 6-5 while UTEP and UAB are both 5-6. The Miners, obviously, could be at the front of this race if they had picked off two or three of those close losses. But that is just basketball ... just sports. You have seasons when you lose the close ones and you have seasons where you win the close ones. It usually balances out.

The Miners have a tough run down the stretch. UTEP has Wednesday off but must go to Memphis on Saturday at 11  a.m. MST. That one is on Fox Sports. Only one team has gotten the better of the Tigers at the FedEx Forum this season and no one in Conference USA has. Murray State edged Memphis 76-72 on Dec. 11.

The Miners then get Southern Miss at home the following Wednesday and then must go to UCF the next Saturday. That is three tough ones in a row.

The Miners finish with a home game against Rice and then a trip to Dallas to meet SMU on the final Saturday of the season.

Should be interesting.

Sweet (16) Memories

UTEP will honor its 1992 Sweet 16 team Saturday night — 20 years after an exciting season.

That Miner team went 27-7 and began the run by splitting with New Mexico State (remember, NMSU went to the Sweet  16 that year, too), then reeled off 12 straight wins to go 16-1. They beat Texas in the finals of the Sun Carnival Tournament along the way. The Miners lost a pair at Utah and BYU, then lost at New Mexico and, inexplicably, at Air Force.

They only lost twice more that season — 73-71 to BYU in the championship game of the WAC Tournament in Fort Collins, Colo., on a 55-foot running shot by BYU's Kevin Nixon at the buzzer (the Miners had the game won 71-70 before that prayer shot) and 69-67 to Cincinnati in the Sweet 16.

The Miners got off to a horrible start against Cincinnati that night in Kansas City. They came back and even  seemed to take a lead on a short jumper by Marlon Maxey. He was called for traveling but it was so loud that no one heard the whistle at first. Cincinnati simply crushed Memphis, 88-57, in the Elite 8. The Miners were that close to the Final Four.

Sadly, two members of that team have passed away. Gym Bice was electrocuted in an accident while helping a friend install a sprinkler system and Roy Howard was killed in a trucking accident. But it was a wonderful mix of players and a good group of guys.

Eddie Rivera, now living in Orlando, was a great guard ... a guard who could score on anybody. Prince Stewart, now back home in Lexington, Ky., was one of UTEP's all-time best defenders. Bice was a good, solid third guard.

Johnny Melvin and Ralph Davis were a pair of athletic 6-foot-5  players. Each made his own contributions. Both Melvin and Davis are back in the Chicago area.

David Van Dyke, living in the suburbs of Phoenix, remains UTEP's all-time leading shot block leader. He was 6-10, long, athletic and had great timing. Marlon Maxey, also living back in the Chicago area, was a 6-8 strong, inside player. He played a few seasons in the NBA. Howard was 6-8, tough and gritty.

In short, Don Haskins had the pieces to mix and match to his heart's delight. And he did. Haskins was masterful in the Miners' win over No. 2 Kansas — spreading the floor, using three guards much of the time, running a triangle-and-two on defense. Melvin played the point on the triangle and he was so active there, opposing coaches had trouble figuring out what the Miners were doing.

That team was fun to watch, fun to cover and it's a shame they did not take it a couple of steps further. It would have been good for  Haskins and for UTEP to reach the Final Four one more time.

Incidentally, had the Miners gotten past Cincinnati and had they beaten Memphis, they would have played Michigan's Fab Five freshman class in the Final Four.

They did not do all that. But they made a wonderful run and it was an exciting time for El Pasoans.

 

Tough Out

UTEP is going through a tough stretch now and the Miners have more tough days ahead — facing the top four teams in the conference standings down the stretch.

UTEP has to play leader Southern Miss and current second place teams Tulsa (at home) and Memphis (on the road) and fourth place UCF on the road.

All that said, the Miners are getting better each time out and could be a tough out in the Conference USA Tournament. Not saying they could win it. They do not have enough depth to make a run all the way.

Just saying that they play everyone tough and, other than host Memphis, probably no one in the league would want to play the Miners in the first round  on a neutral court. 

Bohannon Has Good Numbers

Sophomore John Bohannon is quietly putting together a very good year — and it seems to be getting better as the season rolls on.

Bohannon is second in Conference USA in field goal percentage in all games and ninth in rebounding. He is connecting on .593 percent (while teammate Gabe McCulley is third at .589) and is averaging 7.3 rebounds a game.

In conference games only (the last eight), Bohannon leads Conference USA in field goal percentage (.676), ranks third in rebounding (9.5 per game) and is ninth in scoring, averaging 14.5 points a game.

Bohannon has pulled down double figures in rebounding in three of his last four games, grabbing eight boards against Tulane. He had 12 rebounds Wednesday night against Rice, 13 last Saturday against Tulane and 14 against East Carolina.

 

Lang Tough

Freshman Cedrick Lang is hanging in there, giving the Miners some solid minutes ... though those minutes are understandably dwindling.

Lang, who has a stress fracture in his right foot, is in a walking boot except for game night. He suits up for practice, goes through some walk-through situations (and then John Bohannon comes in when it goes full speed). Lang rides a stationary bicycle much of the time at practice, trying to keep as much conditioning as possible with that injury.

He still wants to play and the doctors and trainers and coach Tim Floyd are being careful with him.

Lang played 12 minutes at Rice Wednesday night, got four rebounds, a block, an assist and scored the game-tying bucket in the final seconds on a great hustle rebound put-back.

No question the young man is displaying some South Dakota toughness.

 

Lang Will Try to Play

Freshman center Cedrick Lang has been diagnosed with a stress fracture in his right foot but doctors have given him the OK to play on a limited basis. Play. Not practice.

UTEP coach Tim Floyd said he will use Lang on a limited basis Saturday night at Houston, that doctors had told him to keep Lang off his feet and out of practice.

With a chuckle, Floyd said, "I've had some guys who would pay me to do this — play games, not practice. But Ced is not one of those guys. He's really a hard worker. And he has been our most consistent player at home and on the road."

Lang had been playing an average of 23.1 minutes a game and that will probably go down. After the Tulane game Saturday, Floyd said Lang probably deserved more minutes.

For his part, Lang said, "I told Coach Floyd 'I'll  play if you need me to play.' I played two games on it last week."

OF NOTE: Floyd missed practice Wednesday, staying away because of illness. He was back at full force on Thursday.

 

Notes of Note

Former Miner Julyan Stone got his most NBA minutes (and points) Wednesday night when Denver raced past Sacramento 122-93.

Stone played 20 minutes for the Nuggets, went 3-of-6 from the field and 0-of-2 from beyond the 3-point arc. He finished with six points, five rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block. He also had four turnovers.

Prior to Wednesday, Stone's most significant appearance was back on Jan. 11 when he played six minutes in a win over New Jersey. He did not score but had three assists, no turnovers.

SICK COACH

UTEP coach Tim Floyd was not at practice Wednesday. He was home sick. Assistant coach Phil Johnson ran practice.

More than anything, Johnson said he thought Floyd wanted to make sure and not give his illness to any of the players. Very little else would keep Floyd off the practice floor. And he will probably be back in action Thursday.

Meanwhile Wednesday, the players watched film and went over the scouting report on Houston -- just as they would have done with Floyd present.

 

More Injuries

Freshman Cedrick Lang has been diagnosed with a stress fracture in his foot. It is not clear yet whether or not he will be able to play more this season.

Whatever the case, Lang will be limited. He had been playing better and better.

In fact, after Saturday's game against Tulane in New Orleans, coach Tim Floyd said Lang has probably been playing more consistently than anyone on the roster, adding that he probably should get a little more playing time.

The 6-foot-9 freshman from South Dakota has played in all 20 of UTEP's games, starting 10 of those 20. He has averaged 7.4 points, 4.9 rebounds in 23.1 minutes per game. He is also shooting a team-best .655 percent from the field.

Lang had been feeling some pain in his foot and finally went to trainer Tony Cordova about it. Cordova got him to a doctor and the bad news was delivered.

The Miners are already without 6-10 freshman Hooper Vint (back injury) and 6-7 junior college transfer Malcolm Moore (torn ACL in his right knee). Vint played in only five games, Moore in just seven. Those two should get their year back. Unfortunately for Lang, he has played too many games to get a medical redshirt season.

The Miners are hopeful that Lang might be able to play in a limited capacity but it would be very limited and his conditioning will soon be an issue.

 

More Steps

We all knew this season would be a process, a series of steps for this young basketball team.

There have been signs of improvement all over, even in that all-important win-loss column. We all remember that game at Oregon, when they played so well after such a terrible home loss to Stephen F. Austin. UTEP lost 64-59 at Oregon and made just 6-of-16 free throws.

The Miners, who made 18-of-21 free throws in Wednesday's win over East Carolina, are now making a solid, if not spectacular, .697 percent from the free throw line. They have moved up to fourth (out of 12 teams) in Conference USA in free throw percentage.

The rebounding has gotten progressively better, too. Sophomore John Bohannon is averaging 6.7 rebounds a game and freshman Cedrick Lang is averaging 4.8 rebounds a game. They occasionally play together but more often than not spell each other. That's a combined 11.5 rebounds a game from the post spot.

Quote of the week: Tim Floyd, talking of going back to New Orleans, described how much he loved that city, just like he does El Paso. He said he loved the culture, the food, the music and said he wouldn't be able to enjoy the music on this trip but added, "I'll get to give my 89-year-old mother a hug."