UTEP coach Doc Sadler has a simple message for his Miners. A sweep is not so easy.
It is, though, possible for the Miners. UTEP used some torrid second-half shooting to get past New Mexico State 75-64 Wednesday night in the Pan American Center. Saturday night, the Aggies come to the Don Haskins Center -- obviously hoping to avoid that sweep.
"All those things are clich?s," Sadler said. "But maybe they are clich?s for a reason. It's just not that easy to get a sweep, to beat a good team twice in one week."
There have been just 11 sweeps in the past 25 years of this series. UTEP swept four times during its strong run through the 1980s. Since 1990, there have been seven -- four for New Mexico State, three for UTEP. The Miners now have won three in a row against the Aggies for the first time since 1989.
The Miners went through a two-hour practice session Thursday afternoon, working on a few things that displeased Sadler.
"Defensively, we had some breakdowns in dribble penetration," Sadler said. "We worked on that today, on just playing without the idea of having help."
Of course, UTEP did have plenty of bright spots Wednesday night. Filiberto Rivera returned with a flourish, creating easy situations for his teammates by getting 10 assists. Rivera had just three turnovers and he got two of those in the first five minutes, while he still was getting a feel for the game. Jason Williams, who scored 24 and 21 points in this series last year, had just two points going into the final seconds of the first half Wednesday. But he got a key rebound, put it back in and got fouled for a three-point play. He finished with 13 points, five rebounds, two assists and not a single turnover. Omar Thomas was as efficient as always, making 8 of 11 shots from the field.
One of the newest Miners, Will Kimble, came up big in his first rivalry game. Kimble had 12 points, seven rebounds.
"That was a fun experience," Kimble said of his first NMSU game. "And it was a good win over a cross town rival. That's the way it seems, because we see their guys around town all the time. The second half was key for us, but I think we just were more consistent from start to finish. We played with some toughness and we played hard the whole game."
UTEP now is 6-2, hoping to stretch that to 7-2 and stretch that winning streak against the Aggies to four in a row. New Mexico State is 3-5, but seems to be getting better. The Aggies, obviously, will try to avoid the sweep and build some momentum for conference play.
It is, though, possible for the Miners. UTEP used some torrid second-half shooting to get past New Mexico State 75-64 Wednesday night in the Pan American Center. Saturday night, the Aggies come to the Don Haskins Center -- obviously hoping to avoid that sweep.
"All those things are clich?s," Sadler said. "But maybe they are clich?s for a reason. It's just not that easy to get a sweep, to beat a good team twice in one week."
There have been just 11 sweeps in the past 25 years of this series. UTEP swept four times during its strong run through the 1980s. Since 1990, there have been seven -- four for New Mexico State, three for UTEP. The Miners now have won three in a row against the Aggies for the first time since 1989.
The Miners went through a two-hour practice session Thursday afternoon, working on a few things that displeased Sadler.
"Defensively, we had some breakdowns in dribble penetration," Sadler said. "We worked on that today, on just playing without the idea of having help."
Of course, UTEP did have plenty of bright spots Wednesday night. Filiberto Rivera returned with a flourish, creating easy situations for his teammates by getting 10 assists. Rivera had just three turnovers and he got two of those in the first five minutes, while he still was getting a feel for the game. Jason Williams, who scored 24 and 21 points in this series last year, had just two points going into the final seconds of the first half Wednesday. But he got a key rebound, put it back in and got fouled for a three-point play. He finished with 13 points, five rebounds, two assists and not a single turnover. Omar Thomas was as efficient as always, making 8 of 11 shots from the field.
One of the newest Miners, Will Kimble, came up big in his first rivalry game. Kimble had 12 points, seven rebounds.
"That was a fun experience," Kimble said of his first NMSU game. "And it was a good win over a cross town rival. That's the way it seems, because we see their guys around town all the time. The second half was key for us, but I think we just were more consistent from start to finish. We played with some toughness and we played hard the whole game."
UTEP now is 6-2, hoping to stretch that to 7-2 and stretch that winning streak against the Aggies to four in a row. New Mexico State is 3-5, but seems to be getting better. The Aggies, obviously, will try to avoid the sweep and build some momentum for conference play.
