GAME NOTES: After being held to a season-low in points, the Miners of Texas-El Paso try to get their offense back on track on Saturday night as they host the Southern Miss Golden Eagles in Conference USA play.

UTEP, which entered the weekend as one of only three teams in Conference USA with double-digit wins overall, saw a five-game win streak come to an end two nights ago with a 58-45 loss to Louisiana Tech at home. The defeat dropped the program to 2-1 in league play and was even more lopsided than the 60-55 setback versus nationally-ranked Arizona just days before Christmas at the Don Haskins Center.

Over on the other side, Southern Miss is seeking its first win against another school from the Division I ranks in more than a month. The team has dropped five in a row and six of the last seven, with the only win during that stretch coming against Spring Hill (66-56) on Dec. 13. Most recently the Golden Eagles suffered a 77-57 blowout loss at Texas-San Antonio on Thursday.

As far as the all-time series is concerned, UTEP holds a 12-9 advantage over the Golden Eagles, although Southern Miss has won four straight in the series.

At the Convocation Center in San Antonio, USM collected just six offensive rebounds, converted 9-of-18 at the free-throw line and 6-of-19 behind the 3- point line in what turned into a 20-point loss. Chip Armelin, a recent C-USA Player of the Week, accounted for a game-high 19 points, adding five rebounds and four steals, but at the same time he was charged with five turnovers. Norville Carey and Matt Bingaya chipped in with 16 and 12 points, respectively.

Bingaya leads the Golden Eagles in both scoring and rebounding with 15.3 points and 5.5 rebounds per contest, while Armelin produces another 13.3 ppg, although his 63.2 percent accuracy at the charity stripe leaves a lot to be desired. As a unit, USM is generating a mere 62.4 ppg and is coming up small more often than not on the glass with just 29.5 rpg.

After 20 minutes of action the Miners were right there with Louisiana Tech two nights ago, knotted at 33-33 at the intermission, but then it all fell apart for the hosts. In the second half UTEP sank a total of only five field goals in 23 attempts, connected on 1-of-6 beyond the arc and a mere 1-of-5 at the free-throw line as well. Vince Hunter logged a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds, both of which were team highs for the Miners in the disappointing effort.

A starter in all but two games, Hunter is shooting almost as well from the field (.560) as he is at the free-throw line (.573), en route to his team-best 16.7 ppg. Hunter is also one of only a handful of players in college basketball averaging a double-double with his 10.3 rpg. Cedrick Lang and Earvin Morris contribute to the offensive production with 10.1 ppg each, the former connecting on 62.4 percent from the floor and the latter an even 50.0 percent (27-of-54) beyond the arc.

The Miners need to have a short memory when they take the floor this weekend, forgetting how much trouble they had in the second half against Louisiana Tech in order to come out and take care of business versus USM.