UTEP Miners men's basketball

The UTEP Miners men's basketball team plays for the University of Texas at El Paso in El Paso, Texas. The team is an NCAA Division I men's college basketball team competing in the Conference USA. Home games are played at Don Haskins Center.

UTEP Miners men's basketball
2024–25 UTEP Miners men's basketball team
University	The University of Texas at El Paso
Head coach	Joe Golding (4th season)
Conference	Conference USA (Mountain West in 2026–27)
Location	El Paso, Texas
Arena	Don Haskins Center (capacity: 12,000[1])
Nickname	Miners
Student section	Miner Maniacs
Colors	Dark blue, orange, and silver accent[2]
NCAA tournament champions
1966
Other NCAA tournament results Final Four 1966 Elite Eight 1966 Sweet Sixteen 1964, 1966, 1967, 1992 Appearances 1963, 1964, 1966, 1967, 1970, 1975, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 2004, 2005, 2010
Conference tournament champions
1984, 1986, 1989, 1990, 2005
Conference regular-season champions
1957, 1959, 1970, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1992, 2004, 2010

History

1966 Texas Western basketball team

Main article: 1965–66 Texas Western Miners men's basketball team

As Texas Western, the Miners won the 1966 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. The 72–65 victory over Kentucky in College Park, Maryland is considered one of the most important in the history of college basketball, as it marked the first time that a team with five African-American starters won a title game. It came against a Kentucky team that had no African-American players, during the period of the Civil Rights Movement.

The title team has been chronicled throughout the American media, including the book And the Walls Came Tumbling Down by Frank Fitzpatrick in 1999^[3] and the 2006 Disney movie Glory Road.

The team was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007.^[4]

Postseason

NCAA tournament results

The Miners have appeared in 17 NCAA Tournaments and were the 1966 National Champions. Their combined record is 14–16.

The team that won the 1966 NCAA championship

Year	Round	Opponent	Result
1963	Round of 25	Texas	L 47–65
1964	Round of 25 Sweet Sixteen Regional third-place game	Texas A&M Kansas State Creighton	W 68–62 L 60–64 W 63–52
1966	Round of 25 Sweet Sixteen Elite Eight Final Four National Championship	Oklahoma City Cincinnati Kansas Utah Kentucky	W 89–74 W 78–76 W 81–80 W 85–78 W 72–65
1967	Round of 25 Sweet Sixteen Regional third-place game	Seattle Pacific Wyoming	W 62–54 L 63–72 W 69–67
1970	First round	Utah State	L 81–91
1975	First round	Indiana	L 53–78
1984*	Second round	UNLV	L 60–73
1985	First round Second round	Tulsa NC State	W 79–75 L 73–86
1986	First round	Bradley	L 65–83
1987	First round Second round	Arizona Iowa	W 98–91 OT L 82–84
1988	First round	Seton Hall	L 64–80
1989	First round Second round	LSU Indiana	W 85–74 L 69–92
1990	First round	Minnesota	L 61–64 OT
1992	First round Second round Sweet Sixteen	Evansville Kansas Cincinnati	W 55–50 W 66–60 L 67–69
2004	First round	Maryland	L 83–86
2005	First round	Utah	L 54–60
2010	First round	Butler	L 59–77

• Received a first round bye in 1984.

NIT results

The Miners have appeared in ten National Invitation Tournaments. Their combined record is 6–10.

Year	Round	Opponent	Result
1965	First round	Manhattan	L 53–71
1972	First round	Niagara	L 57–76
1980	First round Second round	Wichita State Michigan	W 58–56 L 65–75
1981	First round Second round	San Jose State Tulsa	W 57–53 L 72–76
1993	First round Second round	Houston Georgetown	W 67–61 L 44–71
1995	First round Second round	Montana New Mexico State	W 90–60 L 89–92
2001	First round Second round	McNeese State Memphis	W 84–74 L 65–90
2006	Opening Round First round	Lipscomb Michigan	W 85–66 L 67–82
2011	First round	New Mexico	L 57–69
2015	First round	Murray State	L 66–81

CBI results

The Miners have appeared in three College Basketball Invitationals. Their combined record is 4–4 and they advanced to the finals in the 2009 tournament.

Year	Round	Opponent	Result
2008	First round	Utah	L 69–81
2009	First round Quarterfinals Semifinals Finals Game 1 Finals Game 2 Finals Game 3	Nevada Northeastern Richmond Oregon State Oregon State Oregon State	W 79–77 W 75–66 W 81–69 L 69–75 W 70–63 L 73–81
2014	First round	Fresno State	L 56–61

The Basketball Classic results

The Miners have appeared in The Basketball Classic one time. Their record is 1–1.

Year	Round	Opponent	Result
2022	First round Second round	Western Illinois Southern Utah	W 80-54 L 69-82

Miners in the NBA

17 former UTEP players have played at least one game in the NBA.

Name	Draft Year	Draft Team
Tiny Archibald	1970	Cincinnati Royals
Gus Bailey	1974	Houston Rockets
Jim Barnes	1964	New York Knicks
Derrick Caracter	2010	Los Angeles Lakers
Antonio Davis	1990	Indiana Pacers
Scott English	1972	Phoenix Suns
Dave Feitl	1986	Houston Rockets
Greg Foster	1990	Washington Bullets
Dick Gibbs	1971	Chicago Bulls
Tim Hardaway	1989	Golden State Warriors
Vince Hunter	2017	Undrafted
Dave Lattin	1967	San Francisco Warriors
Marlon Maxey	1992	Minnesota Timberwolves
Arnett Moultrie	2012	Miami Heat
Julyan Stone	2011	Undrafted
Julian Washburn	2018	Undrafted
Willie Worsley	1968	Undrafted

Miners in international professional basketball

• McKenzie Moore (born 1992), in the Israeli Basketball Premier League

• Randy Culpepper, currently plays for Scafati Basket of the Italian Serie A2 Basketball League.

Kent Lockhart, a member of the UTEP team in the early 1980s, played for several years in the Australian professional league where he averaged over 25 ppg.

Retired numbers

Main article: List of NCAA men's basketball retired numbers

UTEP has retired six jersey numbers for seven different players. ^[5]

Fltr: Bobby Joe Hill, Nate Archibald, and Dave Lattin, whose numbers were retired by UTEP

UTEP Miners retired numbers
No.	Player	Position	Career	Ref.
10	Tim Hardaway	PG	1985–1989	[6]
14	Bobby Joe Hill	PG	1961–1966	[6]
	Nate Archibald	PG	1967–1970	[6]
42	Nolan Richardson	F	1961–1964	[6]
43	David Lattin	PF/C	1965–1967	[6]
44	Harry Flournoy	F	1963–1966
45	Jim "Bad News" Barnes	C / PF	1962–1964	[6]

Basketball Hall of Fame

• Nate Archibald
• Tim Hardaway
• Don Haskins
• Nolan Richardson
• 1966 National Championship team

Don Haskins Center

The Don Haskins Center (capacity 11,892) is the home of UTEP Miners basketball. With fans seated extremely close to the playing floor and the UTEP student section located near the opponent's bench, "The Don" is so notorious as a tough place for opponents to win that UTEP has historically had difficulty convincing top-rated teams to play there. The highest ranked team (#5) to lose in the Haskins Center, which was known at the time as the Special Events Center, was Georgetown (coached by John Thompson), who lost 78–64 in December, 1985. The Miners repeated twice in 1986 against Auburn, 87-83. This happened in the Sun Bowl Basketball Tournament. UTEP did this for the third straight year with a win over #5 Wyoming in 1988. "The Don" is the home of the UTEP Miners, who were the first Division I Men's National Basketball Champions in the state of Texas (1966). (Previous home was Memorial Gym.)