If Monday night's basketball game between the University of Utah and Texas-El Paso was supposed to be a litmus test for the young and wounded Utes, then what are we to make of their convincing 79-62 victory - or their reaction afterward? This was their first conference game of the season, on the road in El Paso, no less, but who could tell.
"It's pretty nice," said guard Darroll Wright, when asked his impression of UTEP's Special Events Center.Nice? The Utes' private Little Big Horn, nice? "We heard it was hard to win here," he continued.
Clearly, Wright didn't know his hoops history. The Utes had won only once in their last 12 games in El Paso, but on Monday night they never trailed.
Never mind the El Paso hex over the Utes. Never mind that six of the Utes' top eight players Monday were playing their first WAC game. Never mind that UTEP had lost just once in nine games this season. Never mind that Phil Dixon, their best defensive player and three-point shooter, spent the entire second half icing his knee, or that Doug Chapman had the flu or that Terry Preston was bothered by an inner ear infection. Never mind that the Miners staged the inevitable second-half rally, giving the Utes every chance to collapse under pressure.
"Maybe our guys are so young that they are oblivious to the road," said Ute coach Rick Majerus.
"Maybe they're so young, they don't know any better," said Ute assistant coach Jeff Judkins.
Maybe. Keith Van Horn - who was in high school last year at this time - had 18 points and 8 rebounds, and delivered the crucial baskets during crunchtime. Wright and Mark Rydalch had 17 points apiece, and Jason Jackman, a second-year freshman, had 10 points and 5 boards. And Majerus - arguably the best bench coach in America - was up to his usual resourcefulness.
"We tried some gimmicks early tonight," said Don Haskins, UTEP's coach of 33 years.
One of those gimmicks was a triangle-and-two defense, employed to stop Wright and his deadly outside jump shot. The defense helped cool off Utah's hot shooting hand, but not for long. Majerus countered by inserting more perimeter shooters in the lineup.
"They had too many good shooters (for that defense)," said Haskins.
Shooting 67 percent from the field, the Utes took an 18-point halftime lead (47-29), but no one in the joint believed the game was finished.
"I knew they'd make a run," said Majerus.
After Wright and Rydalch hit back-to-back treys to give Utah a 55-35 lead with 17:10 left in the game, the Miners awakened. So did the fans after Geoge Banks and Hector Gonzalez made consecutive layups. The crowd of 11,890 roared for a comeback, and suddenly here was the test the Utes had been warned about.
"Don't let the crowd get to you," Majerus had warned his team earlier in the day.
But the Utes withered. They went six minutes without scoring a basket. Here came the turnovers: Traveling. A five-second call. A shot-clock violation. Errant passes. A charge. When they did get shots, the Utes had a serious case of Steel Elbow.
Ralph Davis, who had 19 points, scored. Then Banks. Then Davis again, and the crowd was on its feet, doing the wave. "That's the loudest crowd I've ever heard," said Van Horn. When Antoine Gillespie, who had 22 points, buried a three-point shot with 11:24 left to cut Utah's lead to 55-49, the Utes were on the ropes.
"It was scary with about 11 minutes to play," said Rydalch.
Enter Van Horn. With 10:50 left, he ended Utah's scoring drought by hitting a jump shot. Moments later, after Davis cut the Ute lead to 57-51, Van Horn drove the baseline and scored with the left hand from behind the glass.
With 4:05 remaining, Van Horn drained the game's decisive shot - a three-pointer from up top that gave Utah a 67-53 lead and sent many fans heading for the exits.
"Van Horn has a lot of guts," said Judkins. "He hit three big shots at a critical time, and he's only a freshman."
"I thought we could hold on to the lead in the end, because we've got good free throw shooting," said Van Horn.
Which is more than can be said for the Miners. While the Ute made 90 percent of their foul shots - 18 of 20 - the Miners made 59 percent - 21 of 34. During the last three minutes of the game, the Utes made all eight of their free throws.
"We've got a long way to go, but this was a nice win tonight," said Majerus, whose team is 7-3 and headed to Albuquerque for a Wednesday night game against New Mexico in The Pit. That will be another severe test for the Utes. Or will it?