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News Article
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UTEP teams face crucial non-conference tests
By Bob Stull
12/14/2008
It’s a big week for the UTEP basketball teams as the holiday break approaches. The men will host Texas Tech on Wednesday and New Mexico State on Saturday, both at 7:05 p.m.
The women will play at New Mexico on Tuesday before hosting Nebraska on Saturday at 1:05 p.m.
As I write this column, Texas Tech is 7-1 in its first full season under the direction of coach Pat Knight, the son of legendary coach Bob Knight. The Red Raiders’ only loss was to undefeated and third-ranked Pittsburgh in the Legends Classic. They scored 167 points against East Central University and are averaging 90.4 for the year.
New Mexico State has a young team. Eight of the Aggies’ top nine scorers are either freshmen or sophomores led by guard Jahmar Young, who averages 18 points per game.
The Nebraska women are off to a 6-2 start. One of the losses was to No. 18 Ohio State, 69-65. The Huskers were 21-12 last season and made the NCAA Tournament. They have four returning starters, including All-Big 12 forward Kelsey Griffin.
Speaking of basketball, Stefon Jackson continues to move closer to becoming UTEP’s all-time leading scorer. His 30-point explosion versus Sam Houston State was not only enough to earn him Conference USA Player of the Week honors, but it gave him 1,700 points for his career. That left him only six points behind Antoine Gillespie, who is second on the Miners’ scoring list. Brandon Wolfram is the all-time leader with 1,831 points.
Stefon is also ninth on the all-time Conference USA scoring chart after passing Marquette’s Brian Wardle and Travis Diener in the Sam Houston State game.
Conference honors
Three UTEP football players earned first team All-Conference USA honors last week – senior center Robby Felix, senior kicker Jose Martinez and senior linebacker Adam Vincent. In addition, senior safety Josh Ferguson made the second team as a punt returner, giving the Miners four total selections.
Martinez, Vincent and sophomore quarterback Trevor Vittatoe shared team MVP honors – Martinez was the special teams MVP, Vincent the defensive MVP and Vittatoe the offensive MVP.
Senior tight end Jamar Hunt was the recipient of the “Pick Axe” Award, given to the player with the “most Miner spirit.” Felix was recognized as the team’s Most Inspirational Player, and sophomore receiver Kris Adams was given the Most Improved Player Award.
In addition, our coaches announced the team captains for the 2009 season. They will be Vittatoe on offense, Da’Mon Cromartie-Smith on defense and Melvin Stephenson on special teams.
Seven of the teams on our 2008 football schedule ended up earning bowl bids – Buffalo, Texas, Southern Miss, Tulsa, Rice, Houston and East Carolina. Next year’s schedule will be equally challenging, as the Miners will host Kansas (2008 Insight Bowl participant) and Buffalo (2008 International Bowl participant) and play at Texas, which will face Ohio State in this year’s Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. This year’s I-10 rivalry game will be played at New Mexico State.
While the Conference USA slate won’t be announced until the spring, the good news is that we will have both Houston and Tulsa coming to the Sun Bowl in 2009.
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