ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – The way the game started, plenty of people wondered what was going on. By the end of the game, it was clear that UTEP had taken steps forward in their 65-56 win over Michigan in the consolation game of the Legends Classic.
Reigning Conference USA Player of the Year Randy Culpepper started the game on the bench for UTEP. He entered the game just over six minutes in and didn’t sit much the rest of the way, and looked like himself for much of it by scoring a game-high 24 points on 10-16 shooting in 30 minutes. He helped the Miners shoot 61.5 percent from the field in the second half while holding Michigan to 25 percent.
So why didn’t he start? It had to be disciplinary, right? Well, apparently that was an incorrect assumption.
“We looked at matchups, we looked at energy off the bench, we looked at finishing a game, we looked at the number of minutes he was playing, how we were finishing games, how we were starting second halves,” said head coach Tim Floyd, echoing what Culpepper said when he was asked about it. “I don’t know how much we’ll do it, we did it tonight. I don’t know how much good it did us. I thought our team played smart coming out, even though we couldn’t score early.”
Culpepper rectified the scoring issues, as he scored 11 points in 13 minutes in the opening frame. But those early struggles were part of why the game was tied at 29 at the half even though the Miners clearly played better than the Wolverines for a good portion of the half. UTEP was much better in the second half, and Culpepper was the main reason, but not the only one.
John Bohannon, a 6’10” freshman forward, scored 10 points, grabbed seven rebounds and blocked three shots. All of his points and blocks, as well as all but one rebound, came in the latter frame, when he came alive. He was around the ball often and in a lot of plays, and was clearly a big factor in their strong second half play as they led by as many as 15 around the halfway point. He also keyed a 40-31 rebounding edge for the Miners.
UTEP entered the season with a big question mark in the frontcourt after heavy personnel losses from last season. Rashanti Harris figured to help there, but he didn’t qualify academically. The Miners have seniors Claude Britten, Jeremy Williams and Wayne Portalatin, but right now only Williams starts. Britten’s body isn’t in the best of shape and Portalatin is a role player, but Bohannon has started four straight games now and doesn’t appear ready to move out of there as he has good length and has been getting better all along.
“Since day one, we knew Bohannon was going to be a key part of this team,” said Culpepper. “Every game, he gets better, and we’re going to need that even though he’s a freshman.”
Floyd noted that Bohannon has helped on the boards, which was a major question mark given the frontcourt questions. He is currently third on the team in that category, but as he plays more minutes his number there will rise.
What Floyd was also happy with was how the offense ran. The Miners had 16 turnovers, which is right around their season average, and that’s not a good number. But they also had a season-high 20 assists on 28 made field goals, and they weren’t coming on simple passes for three-point shots as they were 3-14 from behind the arc.
“That has not been the case with our team,” Floyd observed. “We’ve been a one-on-one, streetball group, and we weren’t tonight. We made an extra pass and got it where it needed to go as a result of player movement. We’ve been a standing team.”
The tandem of Julyan Stone and Christian Polk has really set the tone with this team in that area, and they certainly did it on Saturday. They combined for 11 assists with four turnovers, with Polk getting seven assists to go with six rebounds on a night where he was 1-8 from the field. Stone is a solid guard who will get some points in the flow but is more likely to find teammates to score. Both players have assist-to-turnover ratios of at least 2-to-1.
All told, the Miners did a lot of things right in getting this win. They look more and more like they are finding at least one answer to the frontcourt questions in Bohannon. The offense ran better with good ball movement. Culpepper didn’t start, but didn’t miss a beat in a rare game coming off the bench. And the defense was very good, especially in the second half.
“It was the first time I felt like our team had any kind of identity, and I hope we can grow from it,” said Floyd.
By the end of the game, all signs were that they are growing in a few areas of the game.
