by By Bill Knight / El Paso Times , El Paso Times

Coach Tony Barbee, like every coach in the country, has been pounding his players with hour after hour of practice since mid-October. Now it is time to play.

Chuckling, Barbee said, "Like all coaches, I think I'm in panic because you feel like you don't have enough in play. You simply can't have 100 percent of your offense and 100 percent of your defense in yet.

"But I'm looking for maximum effort, maximum intensity. The offense could be a little sloppy because we've spent most of our time on defense. but the best thing about this game is that it doesn't count."

Of course, Division II Le Moyne upset Syracuse last week in an exhibition.

"I know our guys saw that, but I also tell them when I was an assistant at UMass in '95-96, we went to the Final Four and we lost our first exhibition game," Barbee said. "But we will treat this just like a game. We want to compete, we want to win. We know New Mexico Highlands will come in here and play hard."

UTEP is experienced, even though it has no seniors. The Miners have half a dozen juniors who have had serious playing time. Sophomore Arnett Moultrie was one of the top players in Conference USA as a freshman. They also have four junior transfers, all of whom have Division 1 experience.

Myron Strong, a 6-foot-2 guard, is one of those transfers. He played a year at San Francisco before transferring to Southwest Tennessee Community College. Strong is trying to get over a sprained left ankle.

"I've been practicing most of the time," the native of Memphis, Tenn., said. "I'm eager to get back out there. I haven't played D1 basketball in some time now."

Julyan Stone, a junior, sees some differences this year.

"Practice is different this year in that everyone is a lot more into it," Stone said. "We've still got a long way to go. But this last week has been one of our best week's of practice. We've had a lot of rigorous practices and bodies are banged up. But I think this will help our toughness at the end of the season. We're going through the wall right now, and I think that will make us that much tougher at the end of the season."

Bill Knight may be reached at bknight@elpasotimes.com; 546-6171.

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