In one of their most meaningful games of the season UTEP defeated Old Dominion 62-47 with a tremendous performance to take sole possession of second place in C-USA with just five games remaining.  Julian Washburn had quite a memorable performance as he scored 15 points and shut down Monarch's leading scorer Trey Freeman who was averaging 16.4 points per game.  Freeman who was described by Coach Floyd as "one of the premier players not only in our league but the country" was held to 3 of 9 shooting for 6 points.

Photos by Brandon Cohn.
Photos by Brandon Cohn.
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The Miners are now 18-7, 9-3 in C-USA have won a season high six consecutive games, and eight of their last ten.  UTEP will have the next week off before hosting UTSA in a pivotal game next Saturday.  Other key contributors for UTEP were Earvin Morris who scored 15 points, while C.J. Cooper added 12 as the team reached a milestone by winning their 100th C-USA game.

Louisiana Tech still holds a narrow one game lead over the Miners for the top overall spot in Conference USA; the two teams will meet in a critical rematch in Ruston on February 26.  The Miners were clicking on all cylinders against ODU taking a 28-19 lead into halftime and never looking back.  The team's dominant defensive effort enabled them to hold Old Dominion to 30.8 percent shooting throughout the contest.

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UTEP regained their composure on the boards as they outrebounded the Monarchs 35-34 which was an accomplishment in itself considering that ODU came into the game leading the league in rebounding margin.  The Miners also played efficiently from the charity stripe by making 20 of 30 free throw attempts.  Clearly this team's confidence is growing with each victory, it may have taken a while for UTEP to gel, but without question they are doing so at the right time of the season.

Here is Coach Floyd's complete post game press conference.

 

 

 

 

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