Rebounding still an issue in Floyd era

While head coach Tim Floyd was left with a multitude of talented guards from the 2009-10 Conference-USA champion team, his two largest losses in forwards Derrick Caracter and Arnett Moultrie translated into a grim year on the boards.

The Miners may have found some relief to the rebounding  statistic as they find themselves on the brink of rectifying their rebounding problems that have followed since last season.

Although the team currently holds a negative rebounding margin, they have a chance to flip the margin positive as it sits at -0.4. Their rebounding woes continued mostly at the beginning of the season, when they were out-rebounded in four of their 14 non-conference games.

"If we want to win, that is something we are going to have to correct. A lot of teams in this conference are big on rebounding," senior forward Gabriel McCulley said. "With us being slimmer in size, if we want to win, we have to do things like this, such as rebounding, offensive rebounding and defensive rebounding so we can get on offense to score more points."

Since conference play began, the Miners have out-rebounded four of their seven opponents, including three of their last five by a +26 margin. They lost their last three, all road games to add to those troubles.

Sophomore center John Bohannon currently leads the team and is ranked 10th overall in Conference-USA with 6.8 rebounds per game. Second among the team is freshman center Cedrick Lang with 4.9 per game but may miss multiple games due to a stress fracture in his foot he sustained Jan. 24.

"I think it has been improved but there is still much room for improvement, especially on the offensive glass," assistant coach Greg Foster said. "I have seen some growth and I think our big guys are focusing on it. Our guards are starting to understand the defensive glass as they need to help to."

The Miners find themselves as the second lowest in C-USA in terms of rebounding with 30 per game. Marshall ranks amongst the highest with 42 rebounds per game.

"I think we can get better. This team has not been the most dominant in rebounding and I think that is something we have to get better at as a team, but I think we are starting to come around a little bit," McCulley said. "If we want to have a better season it is something we are just going to have to do."

The Miners faced C-USA opponent Houston Jan. 28, who was ranked fifth overall in rebounding, averaging 36.6 per game. The two teams faced off previously Jan. 7 when the Miners out-rebounded the Cougars 32-19. In the rematch, Houston rallied from 15-points down to win 81-76 in overtime. They also outrebounded UTEP 40-36.

"It's not good enough, it needs to get better," sophomore center John Bohannon said before the game. "We have to fire guys to the glass. Everybody has to rebound."

The Miners have a lower rebounding average in comparison to last season's group of guys who held a 33.8 mark in rebounds per game, but they also had a negative rebounding margin of 2.4.

"This is a young team and last year we had a lot of veterans. We had a lot of bigger guys and were a lot deeper as far as big men. But I think they are getting the hang of it," McCulley said. "They are learning how to play and what it takes to play with guys in this conference. I think as the season goes on, we'll get a little better with everything."

Foster works with mostly post players, and has been emphasizing rebounding over the course of the season, and feels his guys are coming around.

"We talk a lot about patience. We come in here early and try to get some extra reps and watch film," Foster said. "We talk about the different matchups prior to each game because each game is different and every opponent is different. So we try to get them to look and think about the game differently every week."

Frankie Rodriguez may be reached at prospector@utep.edu.