From: ewstroup@cc.utah.edu (ERIC W. STROUP)
Subject: Utah pounds another WAC foe - UTEP
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.4-b1  
Organization: University of Utah Computer Center
Date:  5 Jan 1993 16:22 MST  


UTAH  75, UTEP 54

(box at end)

It was a tropic 6 degrees this morning when I went to pry my newspaper from
my porch - damn snow.  I was happy though, because I knew that the sports
page would have the a story of Utah mauling the Miners.  

The Huntsman center was pretty full last night.  I was pleased to see the only
empty seats were way up in the ozone.  The crowd was charged up to and it 
showed later in the game.  I actually felt like I was at a basketball game.

This was the most physical game I have ever seen in the WAC.  Usually the
officials keep a tight lid on any real physical play.  This makes WAC teams
very vulnerable to non-conference foe in the tournaments. Anyway, this was 
some serious banging!  The refs were clueless and went from making alot of
crappy calls to making alot of crappy no-calls.  

UTEP came into the game pumped after losing to BYU on saturday. UTEP head
coach Don "the Bear"Haskins had his team ready.  UTEP usually plays the 
second game of an away leg really tough if they lose the first game.  This
theory held to form last night.  

Assistant Coach Joe Cravens again led the Utes, with Rick Majerus' absence due
to a death in the family.  

The first half was very tight - the score and emotions.  The Utes went 0-3 on 
their first three possessions and the Miners had 3 layups.  The Utes then 
started playing better defense and taking better shots.  Their first three
shots seemed a bit rushed.  Utah ended up shooting 52% for the half while
the Miners shot 38%.  Josh Grant was 4-7, Cain 3-5, and Dixon 4-7 (All four 
were 3's).  Utah was 5-10 on 3's in the first half while UTEP was 1-4.  Utah
also out rebounded the miners 21-14.

The first half was only a glimmer of the physical play that was to come in the
second half.  It got pretty ugly.  There were a couple scuffles. One with 
Rivera and Darroll Wright facing off across court from where the ball and the
officials were looking.  Another had Jimmy Soto and one of the UTEP forwards.
It all came to a peak when the officials called two offensive fouls on Josh
Grant in succession.  The second one looked like a good call, but by that
time everyone was in a frenzy.  The whole coluseum was on its feet and Coach
Cravens was ballistic.  He ended up with a T.  Utah went on an 18-5 run using
really patient offense and some junk defense.  As an Alum from NC STATE in the
Jimmy V era I can spot a junk D from the upper deck.  They were switching
from a traingle-and-two to a box-and-one with most every possession.  They
threw in a straight 2-3 as well.  UTEP was lost. They never adjusted and 
the result was that their guards were neutralized in setting up the offense.
These junk D's are pretty effective with Darroll wright as a neutralizer.  He
plays tight D on his man and he is constantly talking to the guy.  Its the 
Box-and-Darroll Defense.

Utah really crashed the boards hard.  The Utes outrebounded the miners 43-29.
Josh had 17 of these.  

Don't let Utah's early WAC success fool you.  The next game is AT BYU.  Plus,
Majerus had never won at the Pitt.  Its a long season and we are only two
games into conference play.

At the end of the game the Utah starting five were on the floor even though
Utah was spreading the court and were up by 21.  Haskins was pretty upset by 
this.  Cravens said, "I had subs sitting to come in but the clock never stopped
in the last two minutes. Also, the last time I checked, he has 600-and some-
odd wins and I have 12. So, If I'm not smart enough to take my guys out in 
the last two minutes, it's because I haven't been there and I figure someone
who has won 600 games has got a lot of tricks up their sleeve."  Actually, I
believe that Cravens is 19-14 now.


COMMENTS:

Phil Dixon played a gem of a game.  He played Defense against Johnny Melvin.  
Melvin came in averaging 13.3 pts and finished with only 2 points (and he got
those two against the box-and-one).  He also had 11 rebounds and 22 points 
(5-9 from 3's).  He also had 2 assists, 1 turnover and 1 block in 35 minutes.

Josh Grant came off of a 21pt, 19 reb effort against NM to post big numbers 
again.  Josh had 17 rebs and 16 points.  What he really showed to me was 
some mental toughness. He really battled for rebounds.  Their were bodies
flying, elbows flying, hands slapping, grabbing, pushing - GREAT BBALL!!
Josh had alot of turnovers, but two were offensive fouls and one was at the 
end of the game when he went back-court and grabbed the ball so that UTEP would
not get an easy dunk.  Josh also had 3 blocks.  Josh is still starting too 
far out on his drives.  He has a good first step, but he slows down after that.


Larry Cain also played tough.  He didn't generate big numbers, but he didn't
get pushed around and was fighting hard for the ball.  Good practice for BYU.
Larry had a sweet "Call me MIKE" move.  He had a dribble drive off balance
leap-and-lean bankshot.  I couldn't believe my eyes.

Byron Wilson was in foul trouble for much of the night. Yet he still was able
muscle up to guys and snag 4 boards and net 10 points.

Jimmy Soto again lead the charge - 6 assists and 11 points, with only 2
turnovers in 37 minutes.

Darroll Wright played the role of neutralizer.  He played good man-man, but
was silent on offense.

UTAH		FG	FT	R	A	PF	TP
Grant		6-14	2-2	17	2	3	16
Dixon		7-11	3-4	11	2	2	22
Cain		4-7	2-3	5	2	2	10
Soto		4-6	1-2	3	6	3	11
Wilson		3-5	4-4	4	2	3	10
Wright		1-3	0-0	1	1	0	2
Rydalch		1-3	2-2	1	2	0	4
Block		0-1	0-0	0	1	0	0
		26-50	14-17	43	17	14	75

UTEP
Davis		6-13	1-2	3	0	2	13
Melvin		1-9	0-0	4	3	2	2
Howard		5-9	1-2	9	0	1	11
Rivera		4-10	5-8	2	2	2	14
Gillespe	3-10	5-7	5	2	4	12
Crocker		0-2	0-0	1	0	2	0
Bice		0-3	0-0	2	1	1	0
Gonzalez	1-1	0-0	2	0	1	2
Christopher	0-5	0-0	1	0	0	0
Barnes		0-1	0-0	0	0	1	0
		20-63	12-19	29	8	16	54

Halftime - UTAH 38, UTEP 28
Shooting - FG: UTAH 52.0%, UTEP 31.7%
	   FT: UTAH 82.4%, UTEP 63.2%
Three's  - UTAH 9-19 (Dixon 5-9, Grant 2-4, Soto 2-3)
	 - UTEP 2-15 (Rivera 1-2, Gillespe 1-5)
Steals	 - UTAH 2
	 - UTEP 4
Turnovers- UTAH 14 (Grant 5)
	 - UTEP 8  (melvin 4)
Blocks   - UTAH 7 (Grant 3)
	 - UTEP 4
Technical Foul - Utah coach Cravens



-Eric
ewstroup@cc.utah.edu
Newsgroups: rec.sport.basketball.college