UTEP will close out a home basketball season tonight.
Gabe McCulley, one of the program's most popular players, will play one final home game in his college career.
The Miners will meet Rice in the Don Haskins Center ... a battle of 7-7 teams, a battle for seeding in next week's Conference USA Tournament, a battle for a little basketball pride.
With all that as a backdrop, UTEP coach Tim Floyd will be looking for one thing: Effort ... 40 minutes of that E-word with a capital E.
"Those are things we have grown to expect," Floyd
said. "That's not something we praise. It's something we expect ... it is something our players expect. We had a tremendous departure from that in the last 12 minutes at UCF. We expect our players to be committed, committed to defensive transition, to rebounding, to loose balls."
UTEP was right with UCF last Saturday night until the final 12 minutes, and then the Knights hammered the Miners on the boards to run away with a 63-45 win.
"It reminded me of the last 12 minutes of the New Mexico State game at New Mexico State," Floyd said. "At that time, I felt we were a young team that laid down when we got down. This time, I felt we had an older team that laid down when we got down. It was really hard to stomach. We competed really well for
about an eight-game stretch. We just played like a team that had something else on our minds."
Now, of course, Floyd and the Miners are trying to put that game behind them -- except the memory of that final dozen minutes. Focus now is on Rice. The Miners and Owls had a beautiful duel in Houston on Feb. 1, with Rice's reserve guard Julian DeBose nailing a clutch 15-foot jumper with two-tenths of a second left, lifting the Owls to a 77-75 win.
The Owls are 16-13 on the season, while the Miners are 14-14.
"I don't think anybody has done a better job in our league than Larry Eustachy (at Southern Miss) and Ben Braun (at Rice)," Floyd said. "He's been patient, building a team with all freshmen and he's seeing the results with better team play. They are the most complete offensive team in our league. They try to push it at every opportunity, they have terrific shooters and their offensive approach includes their big guys. Rice is no longer talking about next year. They are relevant this year, and their future is bright because all their players will be back."
McCulley, UTEP's lone senior, will try to help the Miners close the Haskins Center in 2012 on a good note.
"Lot of emotion ... lot of thoughts in my head," McCulley said. "Lot of memories. Everything has to come to an end and now my college career is coming to an end. I just have to accept it and embrace it. Rice beat us last time on a buzzer-beater, and it was a tough game from wire to wire. We have to match their intensity and, hopefully, I can have a good Senior Night."
Teammate Jacques Streeter, the lone junior on this team, said, "We've got two more games going into the conference tournament (at SMU on Saturday night), and we want to be on a roll going into the tournament. Defensive rebounding and blocking out killed us in the second half at UCF. Of course, we want a win for Gabe. He's been a great, great teammate. Very inspirational. Very tough. Feeding off his energy in the game has been great."
And assistant coach Phil Johnson said, "It's Senior Night and Gabe McCulley has been a great representative of UTEP basketball. We need to play well. Gabe is really well-liked by the staff, the fans and the players."
The Miners are hoping to take the emotion of Senior Night and their teammate and friend, take some energy from a heartbreaking loss earlier this month and the memory of a sub-par performance in Orlando, feed on it and get eyeball-to-eyeball with Rice.
Gabe McCulley, one of the program's most popular players, will play one final home game in his college career.
The Miners will meet Rice in the Don Haskins Center ... a battle of 7-7 teams, a battle for seeding in next week's Conference USA Tournament, a battle for a little basketball pride.
With all that as a backdrop, UTEP coach Tim Floyd will be looking for one thing: Effort ... 40 minutes of that E-word with a capital E.
"Those are things we have grown to expect," Floyd
said. "That's not something we praise. It's something we expect ... it is something our players expect. We had a tremendous departure from that in the last 12 minutes at UCF. We expect our players to be committed, committed to defensive transition, to rebounding, to loose balls."
UTEP was right with UCF last Saturday night until the final 12 minutes, and then the Knights hammered the Miners on the boards to run away with a 63-45 win.
"It reminded me of the last 12 minutes of the New Mexico State game at New Mexico State," Floyd said. "At that time, I felt we were a young team that laid down when we got down. This time, I felt we had an older team that laid down when we got down. It was really hard to stomach. We competed really well for
about an eight-game stretch. We just played like a team that had something else on our minds."
Now, of course, Floyd and the Miners are trying to put that game behind them -- except the memory of that final dozen minutes. Focus now is on Rice. The Miners and Owls had a beautiful duel in Houston on Feb. 1, with Rice's reserve guard Julian DeBose nailing a clutch 15-foot jumper with two-tenths of a second left, lifting the Owls to a 77-75 win.
The Owls are 16-13 on the season, while the Miners are 14-14.
"I don't think anybody has done a better job in our league than Larry Eustachy (at Southern Miss) and Ben Braun (at Rice)," Floyd said. "He's been patient, building a team with all freshmen and he's seeing the results with better team play. They are the most complete offensive team in our league. They try to push it at every opportunity, they have terrific shooters and their offensive approach includes their big guys. Rice is no longer talking about next year. They are relevant this year, and their future is bright because all their players will be back."
McCulley, UTEP's lone senior, will try to help the Miners close the Haskins Center in 2012 on a good note.
"Lot of emotion ... lot of thoughts in my head," McCulley said. "Lot of memories. Everything has to come to an end and now my college career is coming to an end. I just have to accept it and embrace it. Rice beat us last time on a buzzer-beater, and it was a tough game from wire to wire. We have to match their intensity and, hopefully, I can have a good Senior Night."
Teammate Jacques Streeter, the lone junior on this team, said, "We've got two more games going into the conference tournament (at SMU on Saturday night), and we want to be on a roll going into the tournament. Defensive rebounding and blocking out killed us in the second half at UCF. Of course, we want a win for Gabe. He's been a great, great teammate. Very inspirational. Very tough. Feeding off his energy in the game has been great."
And assistant coach Phil Johnson said, "It's Senior Night and Gabe McCulley has been a great representative of UTEP basketball. We need to play well. Gabe is really well-liked by the staff, the fans and the players."
The Miners are hoping to take the emotion of Senior Night and their teammate and friend, take some energy from a heartbreaking loss earlier this month and the memory of a sub-par performance in Orlando, feed on it and get eyeball-to-eyeball with Rice.
