The UTEP Miners (17-14, 7-9) led for all but two minutes of its matchup versus the Rice University Owls (15-16, 5-11) Saturday in a 77-72 victory. Rice is winless versus the Miners in three matchups this season. Clinching the No. 11 seed in the Conference USA tournament, the Miners feasted on the grouping of the four bottom tier teams.
“I’m excited for my guys, the way my guys are playing,” second-year UTEP Head Coach Rodney Terry said. “They have really bought into details. It’s hard when you face someone a second time, a third time for Rice, they had to be locked into the details.