GAME NOTES: Larry Eustachy leads his undefeated Colorado State Rams into battle against Tim Floyd and the Miners of Texas-El Paso on Wednesday night.

Eustachy, who was once an assistant under Floyd at Idaho back in 1986-87 and took over at Iowa State after Floyd left the program back in 1998, has his current team cruising along with an unblemished 6-0 mark. The Rams are coming off a 65-53 win over UC Santa Barbara on Saturday which gave the program the title in the Great Alaska Shootout.

For Eustachy, it was the 450th win of his career and the 6-0 start for the Rams tied a program record, last matched just two seasons ago.

As for the Miners, they began the 2014-15 campaign with four consecutive victories, but the run came to an end over the weekend as the squad bowed to Washington, 68-65, as part of the Wooden Legacy at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.

While UTEP may lead the series by a 45-26 margin, the Rams have taken 10 of the last 11 contests played in Moby Arena and are 18-13 in Fort Collins versus the Miners. In fact, CSU has won seven in a row overall prior to last season's 82-74 victory at home in El Paso.

Against Washington, the largest lead of the game for the Miners was four points in the final four minutes of regulation, but the team then fell flat and allowed the Huskies to outscore them by seven down the stretch. Doing his best to keep the Miners out of the loss column was Vince Hunter who registered a double-double consisting of 20 points and a game-high 13 rebounds but it wasn't enough. Julian Washburn and Cedrick Lang contributed 17 and 14 points, respectively, but the team turned the ball over 16 times and shot a mere 2- of-15 behind the 3-point line.

Hunter has been a beast in the paint for the Miners in the early going, not only putting up 18.4 ppg, as he shoots 51.6 percent from the floor, but also with his 12.6 rpg which makes him one of the top rebounders in the country. Lang accounts for another 12.6 ppg and is also active on the glass with 7.4 rpg, while Washburn checks in with 10.6 ppg, even though he has made just 37.0 percent of his field goal opportunities.

In a game that featured seven ties and six lead changes, the Rams managed to slip by UCSB by a mere two points for the title in the Great Alaska Shootout. Colorado state shot only 35.2 percent from the floor, including 4-of-14 beyond the arc. Daniel Bejarano registered a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds, adding four blocked shots and three assists to his stat line. J.J. Avila, Gian Clavell and John Gillon all added 13 points to the attack for the Rams.

After six games, Avila leads CSU in scoring with 14.5 ppg and is also the top man on the glass with 7.7 rpg, although Bejarano (13.8 ppg) is not that far behind in the rebounding department with his 7.3 rpg. What is surprising about Bejarano, who just happens to pace the program in assists with 20, is that he is just as comfortable behind the 3-point line (13-of-28) as he is in the paint where he helps give the squad a rebounding advantage of 6.5 rpg at the moment.

Unfortunately for the Rams, this might be the game that finally sends them into the loss column, particularly since Floyd probably knows Eustachy as well as anyone and the fact that UTEP is no easy target to begin with.