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SHOWDOWN BETWEEN TULSA AND UTEP SOLDOUT TONIGHT
2/5/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 5, 2010
El Paso, Texas - A basketball showdown in this west Texas town takes place on Saturday night in front SOLDOUT crowd of 12,000 fans and an ESPN 2 nationally televised audience as the Tulsa Golden Hurricane faces the UTEP Miners for sole possession of first-place in Conference USA tonight.
Game time is set for 8:00 pm (MT)/9:00 PM (CT) at the Don Haskins Center.
Both teams come into the game with 7-1 league records, while Tulsa has an overall 18-4 mark and UTEP is 16-5 on the season. Tulsa is coming off of a 15-point come-from-behind home victory over Marshall on Wednesday night, as UTEP came back from a 14-point deficit at home against Houston for a 65-58 victory.
The Miners are on a six-game winning streak including road wins at Memphis, snapping the Tigers' 64-game Conference USA winning streak, at UCF, posted its' largest conference road game victory ever with a 37-point win, and at No. 25 UAB, handing the Blazers its first loss in 11 games at Bartow Arena. Tulsa has won nine of its last 10 games, including two double-digit comeback victories.
Four players score in double-figures for the Miners led by 6'0" guard Randy Culpepper's 16.7 scoring average. UTEP's front court of Derrick Caracter, Jeremy Williams and Arnett Moultrie combine to average 36.3 of the Miners' 77.1 points.
The Hurricane is led by the trio of seniors Ben Uzoh and Jerome Jordan and junior Justin Hurtt. Uzoh averages a team-leading 15.8 points and 4.0 assists, while pulling down 4.8 rebounds per game. Jordan, who is coming off of his 23rd career double-double with 24 points and 12 rebounds against Marshall, averages 14.8 points and leads the Hurricane with 8.3 rebounds and 2.7 blocked shots. Hurtt scores at a 14.4 clip for Tulsa while shooting 45-percent from the field and 43-percent from three-point range.
Last year in two games, Jordan averages 21.5 points, 14.0 rebounds and 2.0 blocks in 28.5 minutes. He had 21 points and 14 rebounds in 27 minutes at UTEP, and a series-best 22 points and 14 rebounds at home against UTEP last year.
Tulsa leads the overall series 26-11 and has won eight of the 14 games in El Paso. The Hurricane has won the last four games in the series, including a 78-70 win last year on the Miners' home court.
The game will be aired on ESPN 2 with Dave Flemming and Bob Valvano calling the action. Fans can also tune into KRMG Radio 740 AM/FM 102.3 or online at www.TulsaHurricane.com to listen to the Tulsa-UTEP contest.
