GAME NOTES: The Texas-El Paso Miners look to stay hot on Saturday afternoon when they enter the Convocation Center to take on Conference USA foe Texas-San Antonio.

UTEP has been idle since trouncing Southern Miss at home last Saturday, 74-40. The 34-point margin of victory was the program's second-largest ever in a C- USA game. The win was also the Miners' sixth in their last seven outings.

Meanwhile, UTSA has won three of its last four. The Roadrunners hit the road to take on Texas-Pan American on Monday night and came away with a lopsided 68-43 victory.

UTEP swept last season's home-and-home series with double-digit victories over UTSA in both games, and the Miners lead the all-time series, 6-1.

UTEP used an early 17-0 run against Southern Miss to take a 20-5 lead and never looked back. The Miners went on to shoot 57.1 percent from the floor in addition to making a season-high 10 3-pointers (.500). They committed only eight turnovers and dished out 17 assists. Defensively, they scored 21 points off turnovers and held Southern Miss to 30.6 percent shooting, a season-low by a UTEP opponent.

The 40 points were the second-fewest ever allowed by the Miners in a C-USA game. Vince Hunter (16.5 ppg, 10.2 rpg), the conference's leading rebounder, had a game-high 14 points and eight boards in the win. C.J. Cooper and Omega Harris contributed 12 and 10 points, respectively.

UTSA put its last game away with a 19-0 run to start the second half against Texas-Pan American. The Roadrunners went on to shoot 54.8 percent from the floor over the final 20 minutes to win handily. They finished with a season- high 20 assists and also forced 18 turnovers, which led to 26 points the other way. The Roadrunners held the Broncs to a season-low 43 points.

Jeromie Hill (15.9 ppg, 7.1 rpg) led all scorers with 18 points to go along with seven rebounds and three steals. Ryan Bowie (13.9 ppg, 5.1 rpg) scored 15 points, Kaj-Bjorn Sherman (10.5 ppg, 7.1 rpg) tallied 14 points and nine boards, and Keon Lewis (14.6 ppg) finished with 12 points and five steals. That quartet has been in the starting lineup together for every game so far this season.

Both of these teams are coming off blowout victories, and while UTSA boasts more scoring balance, UTEP has simply had the Roadrunners' number of late.