Randy Culpepper and Julyan Stone were two of the greatest players to ever don the Miner Orange. Stone left here as the leader in all assist categories, while Culpepper held records of his own and is the 2nd all time leading scorer at UTEP. Thursday through Saturday though, these guys have the task of going up against a ton of top senior from around the nation in front of scouts from every NBA team. Some of the talent in the tourney includes Dwight Hardy (St. John's), Vernon Macklin (Florida), Durrell Summers (Michigan State), Stephen Gray (Gonzaga), and Jacob Pullen (Kansas State).
The first night didn't go exactly as planned for the two former UTEP players. Randy Culpepper, who is suiting up for the Norfolk Sports Club, went 2-8 from the floor, and 1-2 from 3 point land for a total of 5 points, a rebound, 2 assists, and 3 steals in 18 minutes of play. Julyan Stone, who is playing for the Portsmouth Sports Club, had a bit of a better game than Randy, but was still far from impressive on this stage. Stone went scoreless, but did have 4 rebounds, and 6 assists, with only one turnover
Opening night stars included Matt Bryan-Amaning (Washington) who had 16 points and 8 rebounds, John Holland (Boston University) went for 23 and 7, and Vernon Macklin (Florida) may have had the best night of all recording 19 points while bringing down 12 rebounds.
***Day 2 is already underway, and Randy Culpepper's team did advance in the consolation bracket, but Culpepper struggled again. Randy went 2-11 from the field and finished with 5 points, 4 assists, and 3 rebounds. Julyan Stone will have his second shot tonight at 7 p.m. MST, and the two former Miners will not square off against each other in this tournament.