UTEP men storm past Sam Houston to reach CUSA finals
UTEP men storm past Sam Houston to reach CUSA finals
The UTEP men’s basketball team began summer practice Monday with some new gear that brought with it a question: What is the significance of 10:33?
That number, in lettering that looks like the time remaining on a scoreboard, was the only adornment other than an adidas logo on their new workout jerseys
So what does it mean?
“That’s obviously stuff we are keeping in the locker room to ourselves,” sophomore guard Trey Horton III said. “10:33 was special. Obviously when we are in spots like that, we just need to remember that moment.”
“I can’t talk about it that much but anybody who knows what it means, you know what it means to this program,” senior forward Otis Frazier III said.
“We’re trying to keep things in house, stay focused,” senior guard Corey Camper said. “When the time comes, it’s going to come, we have to be ready.”
Coach Joe Golding shed a little more light on the sartorial choice.
“It’s something to remind those guys there’s still a lot to work for,” said Golding, who will begin releasing the 2024-25 schedule next month. “It’s a saying we have inside our program, it goes back to the championship game against Western Kentucky. We’re going to remind those guys each and every day, a daily reminder.”
With 10:33 remaining in the CUSA tournament championship game last March, with a spot in the NCAA tournament on the line, the Miners were tied with Western Kentucky and had the ball, though the Hilltoppers had already started what would become a 9-0 run that keyed their title.
Another possibility, perhaps the more likely one, is that with 10:33 to play in the first-round CUSA tournament game against Liberty, the Flames hit a 3-pointer to take a 54-42 lead, which was the low-water moment of March for UTEP. After the 10:33 mark, the Miners closed on a 24-3 run and rode that momentum to an upset of Sam Houston in the semifinals.
Those memories are fresh for UTEP, which returns 10 players from that team. In this day of the transfer portal, that is a remarkably high number. The Miners have four newcomers, including star transfer Devon Barnes from Tarleton State, but the story of the offseason is how they held their nucleus together.
“We believe in the plan coach Golding has,” Horton said. “We have high expectations, we came back with that goal in mind.”
Golding said his team is further along right now than it has ever been in June.
“I don’t know the statistics but I’d guess we’re one of the only school that brings that many back,” Golding said. “It’s a huge plus but it doesn’t guarantee you anything. We have to earn it and get back to work. These kids have been developing since the spring and then of course this summer we have to continue to develop them. It’s a comfort level for sure.
“It was one of our best, if not our best — it was our best — offseason that we’ve had here because of so much continuity and so many guys back.”
Those returners are hungry.
“We’re really motivated,” Camper said. “That last game stuck with me to this day. I’ve processed that game over and over.”
“It’s just getting back to work,” Frazier said. “We’re not going to be giving anything just because we made it to the conference tournament last year. So we are putting in the work the same way we did last year. We are getting the new guys in, putting the system together, gelling together, that’s pretty much what we are focused on this summer.”
That journey started this week. UTEP hopes it’s a successful one.
Bret Bloomquist can be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on Twitter.
