GAME NOTES: Hoping to build on a three-game win streak, the UAB Blazers will hit the road to take on the Texas-El Paso Miners in a Conference USA showdown at the Don Haskins Center on Thursday evening.

UAB has won three consecutive games, with the most recent victory coming over Old Dominion, 81-68. The team has taken six of its last seven decisions altogether. The Blazers head into Thursday sporting a 10-10 record on the season, but own a strong 6-1 mark in Conference USA action.

UTEP is trending in the other direction, having lost two games in a row to Western Kentucky (71-66) and Marshall (78-71). With the loss to the Thundering Herd, the Miners slipped back to 12-7 this season with a 4-3 ledger in conference action. UTEP owns a 7-2 record at home this season, however.

This will be the 16th meeting between UAB and UTEP all-time. The Blazers hold a slim 8-7 advantage in the series, although the Miners have taken five of seven contests played in El Paso. The sides last met last season, but just over a year ago, as UTEP earned a 63-61 victory.

UAB lit up the nets in its last outing against Old Dominion, connecting on 70.3 percent of its shots from the floor in the 13-point victory over one of the stronger Conference USA teams this season. A 24-of-26 mark from the free- throw line helped push the Blazers well past the Monarchs. Tosin Mehinti, Nick Norton and Robert Brown all scored 12 points to pace UAB in the win, while Mehinti pulled down a team-best seven rebounds. Chris Cokley and C.J. Washington each added 10 points to the winning effort.

The Blazers have somehow found success with just one player on the squad netting a double-digit point total. Brown checks in at 13.5 ppg for UAB, shooting 42.3 percent from the floor, and is followed on the scoring list by Washington's 8.4 ppg. The Blazers as a unit are netting 67.3 ppg, but the team's scoring defense hasn't been very helpful, as it allows 68.8 ppg to opponents. William Lee leads the Blazers on the boards with a 4.9 rpg mark, followed by Mehinti, who grabs 4.5 rpg. Norton has dished out a team-best 73 assists, and is third in the league averaging 3.8 apg.

Texas-El Paso probably didn't even see Marshall coming. The Miners were upended by the Thundering Herd, who put a stop to a nine-game losing streak with the seven-point win over UTEP on Saturday. The Miners shot the ball well from the floor, connecting on 47.5 percent of their tries, but were outdone from beyond the arc and from the free-throw line by the Herd. Omega Harris tallied 18 points to lead UTEP, while Matt Willms chipped in with 12 points off the bench and Cedrick Lang added 11 points with five rebounds. Vince Hunter neared a double-double, finishing with nine points and nine rebounds in the defeat.

Hunter, the sophomore who is coming off a phenomenal freshman season in 2013-14, leads the team in both scoring (15.5 ppg) and rebounding (10.1 rpg - ranked first in Conference USA). His 55.7 percent shooting mark from the floor is up in the top 10 individually in the league rankings as well. Earvin Morris (10.5 ppg) and Lang (10.3 ppg) round out a trio of double-digit scorers for the Miners this season, with Julian Washburn (9.5 ppg) on the cusp of joining them. UTEP is averaging 69.7 ppg this season on a healthy 47.3 percent shooting touch, and is holding opponents to 63.1 ppg in the same frame (fourth in scoring defense in the conference).

Considering the Miners had won seven of their last eight before they suffered back-to-back losses shows that the two recent defeats could be outliers. About to play its next two games at home, UTEP might be able to hand UAB its second conference loss this season if the Miners come out firing.