GAME NOTES: The two teams to register the first wins of the Conference USA season get together in the Lone Star State on Sunday afternoon, as the Rice Owls host the Miners of Texas-El Paso.

Getting a jump on the rest of the league, both programs played on Friday night and came up winners, and now the Miners are seeking just their second true road victory of the campaign. The first of those came two nights ago when the squad dismissed the North Texas Mean Green in Denton by a score of 85-71.

Overall, it was the fourth straight win and the sixth in the last seven outings. The one setback during the run was a 60-55 loss to nationally-ranked Arizona at the Don Haskins Center.

Meanwhile, the Owls were a team struggling to put together solid efforts from one game to the next. But on Friday, the team put all the pieces together in an impressive 67-52 victory versus visiting Texas-San Antonio. The win snapped a two-game slide and was just the second on the season against another Division I program. Previously, Rice defeated Prairie View A&M by a mere four points in November, while adding triumphs over St. Edward's and St. Thomas in back-to-back dates last month.

The Miners own a 17-11 advantage in the all-time series dating back to 1997. UTEP has won three straight and eight of the last 10 encounters, posting a 68-57 victory in the last clash on Feb. 1, 2014 in El Paso.

UTEP allowed the Mean Green to make good on 57.1 percent of their field goal attempts in the first half and 53.2 percent overall, but at the same time the Miners forced 18 turnovers and outscored the hosts by a 22-14 margin at the free-throw line in order to come away with the double-digit victory. Earvin Morris scored a game-high 22 points, adding six steals in 24 minutes off the bench, while Vince Hunter and Omega Harris responded with 21 and 12 points, respectively. Cedrick Lang came up a point shy of a double-double as he cleared a game-high 10 rebounds.

Hunter, a starter in all but two games, is shooting almost as well from the floor (.570) as he is at the charity stripe (.588) as he produces a team-high 16.8 ppg to go along with 10.3 rpg, which is also tops for the Miners. Lang pitches in with another 10.5 ppg as he too shoots well from the field (.622), and yet the team overall is converting a mediocre 47.4 percent from the floor as they generate 71.5 ppg.

UTSA wasn't exactly a powerhouse, but considering how many quality wins the Owls had going into the meeting, it was still somewhat surprising to see Rice come out the other side with a victory, by 15 points no less. Marcus Jackson carried much of the load with his game-high 27 points, shooting 5-of-9 behind the 3-point line, while Max Guercy produced another 13 points as he too shot the ball well out on the perimeter (3-of-5) and handed out six assists for a squad that outscored UTSA by a 33-12 margin beyond the arc.

Seth Gearhart, who finished with eight points, five boards and three assists in the conference opener, remains the top overall scorer for the Owls with 14.4 ppg and is also still holding onto first place as far as rebounding is concerned (5.4 rpg). Jackson checks in with 13.1 ppg and a team-high 42 assists, but still his 38.5 percent shooting from the floor has to be a concern when you consider the team as a whole is connecting on just 40.2 percent from the field.

Unfortunately for the Owls, their moment in the sun as one of the leaders in the Conference USA standings must come to an abrupt end here against a UTEP squad that is destined for bigger and better things.