More than a big win

This was much more than the biggest win for UTEP since some Don Haskins pull-offs of yore. Now the particulars:

The 72-67 (yes dominance) over C-USA's long-time king meant Memphis DID NOT set an all-time NCAA record for most consecutive wins over conference teams. Memphis remains tied with the Kentucky teams of 60 years ago at 64 in a row. How in the world could a good Memphis team, with all that on the line, lose? Call it a big program achievement for UTEP.

UTEP, with some bad baggage on the scoreboard this year, played gutso in the clutch, and all through the game - and in front of 18,000 fans - and ... Let's say that Barbee's recruiting strategy of trying to match Memphis showed dividends Wednesday night. He had a taller, deeper and as-talented team as Memphis - and the Miners kept their heads enough to win the game on the road - with Memphis and its fans having all that going for them. That's something to let sink in: with ALL that going for them, and UTEP came up dominant.

This game's score was close all the way. Nobody put on a rally. That's to UTEP's plus side because home teams usually have a run at some time in the game. But Wednesday, in the second half, UTEP closed off the inside and Memphis couldn't score enough from the outside. UTEP is usually weak under the hoop. Not Wednesday - against the elite team.

No rips and rags on the 12-5 Miners this time. They hit their press clippings with a bulls-eye vs. 13-5 Memphis.

Comments

[Pick Ax]

Gold Stars all around. BarB-T can coach. Great job. Lets build on this win now.

[Lorenzo]

Miners finally play to their potential tonight. BIG WIN. How about the game Jeremy Williams had in front of his hometown?? He's definitely a clutch and big-stage player. Let's hope this is a turning point in the season.

However...

The UCF game scares me. Let's not overlook the Knights.

[shyminer]

I agree... not bad can be said about this win... the Miners got it done!

[CLEOFITZWITZ]

This shows that UTEP will play when they want to and takes other teams for granted. I hope they can keep up the intensity for the rest of the season. We have the ability to make this a very special year.

[fyi]

great win, i just hope this isn't like football, beat the really good teams, and lose to the weaker teams!!

[victor salas]

congrats! Tenacious defense and rebounding

[UTEP fan]

A good win for the Miners on the road and a nationally televised game at that. Now this is a game the Miners can build on and have a good season.

[utep bball fan]

GO MINERS!! FYI - El Paso Times reported 16,709 fans, not 18,000.

[RoOsTeR]

Jeremy Williams showed up HUGE!!! That drunk was Top 10 material in my book. What a great win for the Miners and CBT. I hope they build and not colapse. GO MINERS!

[strelz@thestrelz.com]

great win! the announcers were all for the tigers right up to the end...yes the coaching was good and the team played like a top 25.

[Not A Believer]

Nice win for the Memphis west team that comes out and beats the Memphis east team, that's all this all this was. But lets not start booking reservations to the Final Four just yet. BarB coached against an assistant coach that took "his" job from him so he HAD to come out and win this game, or prove Memphis east that they made the right choice in not taking him (BarB)for their head coach spot. Lets wait and see what happens the rest of this road swing then maybe he/the team will really give UTEP fans something to get behind.

[jay]

Dang, where has Jeremy Williams been for the past 17 games? I'd have to say that was excellent hard nose "in your face" ball playing from UTEP. Now if only everybody played like that in every game we would be 17-0 easily. I have not seen any competition for UTEP. This goes to show how this MINERS team is capable of playing! I still agree that our big guys need to be more aggressive under the boards. Over all UTEP FINALLY BEAT MEMPHIS!!!!

[Toasted Whitebred]

The Miners have played well against teams that run a similar program to theirs. Meaning teams that use more athletisism than court positioning and old school bball fundamentals such as blocking out, set offenses, shot selection etc.

The teams we don't do well against are the ones that play that orderly brand of bball.

That having been said, I think this team is starting to gel and play together as a unit. The more consistent we become the better our results. Lets not forget that many of these players are brand new.

[Lowercase Ray]

SM,
As we talked about in a previous quote, with NMSU beating UTEP and v.v., it would be in the interest of both teams for both teams to do well the rest of the way. RPI wise we are at that turning point, with UTEP now at RPI 105 and NMSU at 106. If both can win against teams with lesser RPI teams and win against some of the better than 100 RPI teams, then either team can pull the other over that MAGIC 100 line. With UTEP having wins over Oklahoma (at RPI 87 now) and Memphis (RPI 100), UTEP now has two good wins which neutralize the two bad loses against NMSU and Houston. If UTEP can win the next few games, especially at UAB, UTEP will be better than 100 and that would make NMSU's win over UTEP a good win and their loss to UTEP to not be a bad loss. That would be enough to push NMSU over the 100 line. Crasy enough, NMSU being better than 100 would then bring UTEP to 3 good wins vs 1 bad loss; making UTEPs RPI even better.
To give credit where credit is due, NMSU have brought themselves to a point, by them doing well in the WAC, where they've put themselves in a position to break 100. They could do that by winning vs San Jose and LA Tech. I know that no loss is a good loss, but some loses are worse than others. UTEP and NMSU may soon get those loses of their back.

[Realm]

Nice win... but NOT the Litmus test for how the season has gone so far.
Discuss at the newest Utep sports board... txelpaso.proboards.com

[JRMaynard3]

Someone mentioned UTEP would be 17-0 if they'd played this well all season. I beg to differ. They still wouldn't have beaten BYU. BYU is the best TEAM they've played (and will play) this year. Dem white boys can flat out play! If Jimmer Fredette had played in that game we'd have been blown out.