Why is UTEP Playing Early?

A lot of Miners fans were confused tonight when they heard that their team was playing on Friday in the 2pm semifinals game. Here is why. UTEP (3rd) and Tulsa (2nd) are the highest remaining seeds in the C-USA Tournament. Once top seed UAB lost to East Carolina, the next highest remaining seed plays in the early game. That will reward that team with the most possible rest before Saturday's 9:30am Championship game. A lot of Miners fans planned their day around a 4:30p game. Now, they need to either take a sick day or convince their boss to leave work early. I hope the Haskins Center still gets 10k tomorrow and the Miners move one step closer to an NCAA bid.