The week of Feb. 13-19 was an eventful one for UTEP, as they continued winning while scenarios went in their favor. But the most notable accomplishment came after their recent victory Feb. 18 at Houston when the Miners were able to clinch at least a share of the Conference USA regular season title and the No. 1 overall seed in the postseason tournament.
Following their last home victory Feb. 12 against Tulane at the Don Haskins Center, UTEP (24-2, 13-0 C-USA) players found themselves with a two-game lead over Memphis with five games to go. The Miners took care of business by defeating Tulsa Feb. 16 on the road and got some help when Memphis fell to Marshall the same day.
That left UTEP with a three-game lead over Memphis and UAB. But again, Marshall helped out UTEP when they defeated UAB Feb. 18, giving UTEP the No. 1 overall seed for the C-USA Tournament, too.
All that's left for UTEP to do now is win the regular season title outright, and they have the opportunity to do so Feb. 23 when they take on SMU in front of their home crowd.
The Miners have won a regular season league title just once, which they did in the 2007-08 season. That year, UTEP went 25-2 overall, a perfect 16-0 in C-USA and finished the season on a 21-game winning streak. That team rose as high as No. 18 in the AP poll, No. 24 in the ESPN/USA Today poll, but fell in the C-USA Championship game. They made the NCAA Tournament, won their first game but lost to the eventual national runner-up, Stanford.
This year's team has also gained some national recognition but has not been ranked yet. In the latest AP poll released Feb. 20, they received 24 votes, for 30th overall. In the latest ESPN/USA Today poll Feb. 14, they were No. 28 with 22 votes.
Senior forward Gloria Brown also gained recognition outside of El Paso when she was named the C-USA Player of the Week Feb. 20 for the fourth time in her career and the second time this season.
UTEP has three games remaining, and will end the season March 1 at UAB.
William Vega may be reached at prospector@utep.edu.
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