Julyan Stone reached a heck of a career milestone tonight as he became the C-USA's all-time assist leader. Julyan passed USF's Reggie Kohn who previously held the mark with 632 assists. Julyan finished with 5 assists which put him at 633 career assists, leaving him alone at the top of the C-USA list.
I'm not sure if Stone has ever been named the C-USA Player of the Week. I hope that his 15 rebound game against Tulane and his record setting night today will put him in contention for the league honor. Julyan deserves some special recognition considering the milestone he reached yesterday. Here are the rest of my thoughts on the win in bullet points:
- 2 In A Row for J Will: Jeremy Williams led UTEP with 14 points. It was the second time in as many games that Williams was in double digits. He had 13 against Tulane. Williams was 3/3 from the three point line
- Turnovers Tell the Tale: Rice committed an astonishing 16 turnovers which led directly to 22 Miner points.
- Arsalan Who? Rice's best player is forward Arsalan Kazemi. Kazemi entered the game averaging over 16 points a game. He ended up with only 2 points Saturday night. He did have 10 boards, but you have to credit UTEP's defense for keeping him in check.
- Spreading the Wealth: The route allowed the entire UTEP squad to get on the court. John Bohannon came off the bench but still played a solid 23 minutes. Gabriel McCulley played 20. Isaac Gordon and Michael Perez each played 11 minutes. Note that tight end Kevin Perry got on the court late but didn't get to score a basket.
- An Eye on The Stripe: Note that UTEP shot 64.7% from the free throw line (11/17).
- Hard to Beat: Consider that UTEP shot nearly as good from the three point line (53.8%, 7-13).
- Rice's Best Shot? Rice beat LSU and TCU and nearly knocked off #12 Texas in Austin (lost by 3). These Owls are not an easy team but it was clear that they didn't quite show up. Was that Rice's best game? No, but it was hardly UTEP's either. And all that matters is who won between the teams that showed up. The Miners took advantage of Rice miscues and sloppiness and ran away with it in the second half. What more do you want?