The UTEP men’s basketball team faced a must win situation playing for a first round bye in the upcoming Conference USA tournament when Charlotte came to the Don Haskins Center on Mar. 4. The Miners responded with a 74-67 victory on “senior day” and their last regular season game of the year.
UTEP (14-16, 12-6 C-USA) has officially clinched the fourth seed and a first round bye in the league playoffs despite their rocky start to the season. In the last 15 games of the season, the Miners turned around their dreadful season by winning 12 of those contests, including their most recent victory over the usual high-flying offense of the 49ers (13-16, 7-11 C-USA).