EL PASO, TEXAS – UTEP (17-5, 8-1 C-USA) faces red-hot SMU (11-11, 4-4 C-USA) on Wednesday in Dallas. The game will be televised in El Paso on Time Warner Cable MetroSports Southwest Channel 24, with tip-off slated for 6 p.m. MT. The Mustangs have won five of their last six games, including three in a row at Moody Coliseum — most notably a 70-60 upset of Memphis on Jan. 30.
“SMU is playing considerably better than the last time we faced them,” UTEP coach Tony Barbee said. “We didn’t play well offensively against their zone (on Jan. 6 in El Paso). We’re going to have to do something to speed up the tempo of the game on Wednesday. If you’re not ready to play, they’re good enough to beat you.”
UTEP took over sole possession of first place in the Conference USA standings with Saturday’s 73-59 win over Tulsa in El Paso. The Golden Hurricane (18-5, 7-2) and UAB (19-4, 7-2) are a game back of the Miners in the conference chase with seven games remaining in the regular season.
It marks the latest that UTEP has been in first place in the league standings since tying for the Western Athletic Conference crown with a 13-5 record during the 2003-04 season.
The Miners have won seven straight games for the first time since the 2004-05 season (UTEP had winning streaks of seven and 10 games that year). UTEP has also reeled off three straight conference road wins for the first time since 2004-05. The Miners haven’t won four league road games in a row since 1974-75, when they were victorious at New Mexico, Wyoming, Colorado State and Utah in succession.
The Mustangs pounded Tulane on Saturday in New Orleans, 66-48. SMU held the Green Wave to 30.6 percent shooting and had a 41-17 rebounding advantage, including 28-9 on the defensive glass. Junior forward Papa Dia had a monster night with 17 points and 16 rebounds for the Mustangs.
Dia has averaged 17.0 ppg and 13.0 rpg over the last three games. Senior guard Derek Williams has averaged 22.3 ppg during that span.
Williams averages 17.3 ppg for the season, Dia 12.2 ppg and 8.5 rpg, and Mouhammad Faye 9.8 ppg. Faye didn’t play against the Miners on Jan. 6, but had a big game versus UTEP in Dallas last season (19 points, including 15 in the second half).
SMU will be without the services of sophomore guard Paul McCoy (torn ACL) for the remainder of the season.
UTEP leads the series 21-14 and has won 13 of the last 14 matchups between the schools. The Mustangs have enjoyed an 8-6 advantage in games played in Dallas, although the Miners have emerged victorious in five of the last six meetings between the schools at Moody Coliseum.
While UTEP has dominated the SMU series in recent years, four of the last five games between the Texas rivals have been decided by six points or less and two have gone to overtime.
