UTEP avoids upset bug at C-USA tourney
March 12, 2010
TULSA, Okla. (AP)—No. 25 UTEP doesn’t just have to rely on Randy Culpepper andDerrick Caracter to keep on winning.
Coach Tony Barbee unleashed his team’s depth full-force against UCF, and itmight just pay off as the Miners move on to the Conference USA tournamentsemifinals.
Jeremy Williams scored 17 points, Culpepper added 10 and UTEP beat CentralFlorida 76-54 for its 15th straight win Thursday night, building a big enoughlead that the team’s top two scorers weren’t needed in the second half.
“Through a lot of adversity this year, our depth has been our biggestally,” Barbee said. “Foul trouble, guys not playing well, some injuries, guysmissing some games and our depth has been our biggest ally.”
Barbee doesn’t think the latest bit of adversity for the top-seeded Miners(25-5) is entirely fair, but his players did their best to limit the effects ofa quick turnaround before facing fifth-seeded Tulsa 16 hours later in front ofwhat will be an unfriendly crowd.
“No other tournament in the country is doing that,” Barbee said. “But itis what it is. You’ve got to live with it.”
As the tournament host, Tulsa was able to pick its time slot. That bumpedUTEP into the late game, and the best thing the Miners could do was break itopen early.
UTEP used aggressive full-court traps to force ninth-seeded UCF into 12first-half turnovers, then turned those takeaways into 15 points to build a28-point lead by halftime. The Miners, who moved into the Top 25 two weeks agofor the first time since 1992, are trying to build on their first outrightconference title since 1987.
“We just wanted to get this game over with as quick as possible, soeverybody went out and played hard and it was a team effort,” Williams said.“Everybody did a good job tonight.”
On a day when the each of the conference’s other higher-seeded teams lost,UTEP led wire-to-wire for the ninth time this season. The Miners blitzed UCF inthe backcourt and raced out to a 15-3 lead behind seven early points fromWilliams.
After A.J. Rompza’s pass sailed out of bounds for his team’s seventhturnover in the first 10 minutes, Golden Knights coach Kirk Speraw screamed tohis panicking players, “Hey! Slow down!” It didn’t work with the Minersforcing the pace.
Isaac Sosa zipped a crosscourt pass out of bounds while trying to break thepress on UCF’s next possession as the Knights turned it over on three of theirnext four trips.
“I think early in the game we were turning it over 50 percent of ourpossessions,” Speraw said. “That was something that we wanted to calmourselves down a little bit more and play with a little bit more poise.
“But give them credit. They got us sped up and got us to turn it over.”
Culpepper’s fast-break layup off the final turnover in that stretch made it30-14 with 7:20 left in the first half. UTEP also scored the final nine pointsof the first half to stretch its lead to 48-20.
The Miners were up by 31 when Barbee pulled Culpepper, his leading scorer,and let him sit out for the final 16 minutes. Derrick Caracter, the Louisvilletransfer who leads the team in rebounding and ranks second in scoring, got thewhole second half off.
“In this league, any team can beat any other team on any given night ifyou’re not ready to play,” Barbee said. “I don’t know what happened in thoseother games. I don’t know if those other teams just played better.”
Keith Clanton had 12 points and Isaac Sosa scored 10 to lead UCF, which lostthe teams’ only regular-season meeting by 37 points on its home floor. TheGolden Knights never got closer than 19 in the second half, pulling within 68-49when Taylor Young finished an 18-4 run with a 3.
“Their defensive pressure is very good. We didn’t handle it very well,”Speraw said. “They’re a very good team. They’re one of the better teams in thecountry.”
Speraw said reserve P.J. Gaynor was hospitalized after a midair collisionwith Williams with 1:07 remaining in the first half. He rolled over twice on thebaseline before a trainer came out to attend to him. Speraw said after the gamethat he didn’t have any information about Gaynor’s injury except that he hadbeen hospitalized.
The rest for the Miners’ starters could come in handy against Tulsa, theconference’s preseason favorite that faded down the stretch to finish in fifth.Caracter will go head-to-head against 7-footer Jerome Jordan, who was chosen tothe league’s all-defensive team.
UTEP swept the season series, winning 73-59 at home and 78-70 at Tulsa’scampus arena.
“We’ve had some difficult matchups with them, including the ones this year.They weren’t easy games,” Barbee said. “A great defensive team. (Coach) Doug(Wojcik) does a great job. I expect it to be another fantastic game.”