The pain came about a year and a half ago.
It was excruciating, almost debilitating ... a sharp pain in Joey St. Pierre's lower back. At first, doctors dismissed it as a muscle strain.
But it persisted.
Finally, doctors discovered he had scar tissue from birth around his kidney and it was backing up the kidney. He tried to play through it. But finally, in February, he had surgery.
Now the pain is gone and St. Pierre, all 6 foot 10, 280 pounds of him, is in the Foster-Stevens Basketball Center, sweating with his new UTEP teammates, getting ready for an upcoming college basketball season.