UTEP 71, SMU 49, and it was uglier than that. The Ponies did not belong. They haven't for awhile.
Sorry to bag on Matt Doherty so much, but DANG! How in the world did UTEP let the Mustangs within five points in Dallas, much less lose in double-overtime?
(While we're on the subject, my understanding of why Heidi dressed out for a local high school hoops team on MetroSports Southwest and bumped the Miners while they were still playing that second OT -- the entity putting that game on didn't bother to pay the light bill. As for the problems in the first half? Gnomes.)
You have to question SMU's decision-making in hiring Doherty. The Ponies expectations that his ACC-pedigreed name was going to lead them to glory appear to be much like his gray hair -- premature.
That said, UTEP handled the pressure well. But you just had a feeling the Miners Memphis Mafia was going to step up to the challenge.
Randy Culpepper was key for that young group. All-Conference USA freshman team and Sixth Man of the Year? Pretty heady stuff, but it didn't slow him. Three-pointers tend to look the same in the highlights, so as you watch below you'll be thinking deja vu all over again. And again (he had seven, for Pete's sake). But watch for that block in the latter third of the highlight package. That was something.
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We'll have the Houston stuff up as it becomes available.