Haskins Downplays His Miners : UTEP Plays SDSU After Sleepwalking to 15-2 Mark

When Texas El Paso’s basketball team arrived in town Friday morning, it looked like a bunch of sleepwalking giants.

The Miners had flown all night from Honolulu, where they had beaten Hawaii, 65-63, Thursday night. The players were tired and just wanted to get to bed.

Don Haskins, UTEP coach, could only hope his players would get plenty of rest. The 17th-ranked Miners will attempt to awaken in time for tonight’s 7:30 game against San Diego State at the Sports Arena.

If recent games are an indication, Haskins thinks his team has been sleepwalking for quite some time.

“We’re certainly not playing like a Top 20 team,” he said. “Maybe not even a Top 40 team.”

Since Western Athletic Conference play began, UTEP has not played at its peak. The Miners lead the conference with a 4-1 record, but have struggled in wins against Brigham Young (69-64 in overtime), Utah (62-52) and Hawaii, in addition to a 68-54 win over Air Force. The Miners lost in overtime at Wyoming, 63-62, one week after the Cowboys had lost at Louisville by 32 points.

“Are you coming to see our game against San Diego State?” Haskins asked. “If you come, I’m afraid you’ll wonder how we’ve been doing it. We’ve played awfully bad.”

Make that just bad enough to have a 15-2 record.

“Don always talks his team down, doesn’t he?” said Smokey Gaines, San Diego State’s coach. “Have you ever heard him talk his team up? You have to be a good ballclub to be ranked 17th and have beaten Georgetown, Ohio State and Alabama.”

According to Haskins, his team has not been the same since defeating those three teams in succession at home. Things have only gotten worse (performance-wise, at least) for the Miners, who began WAC play three days after beating Alabama, 74-62, on Dec. 30.

In retrospect, Haskins blames himself for UTEP’s sudden slowdown. If he had it all to do over, he might not have had his team go through two-a-day drills before beating Georgetown, 78-64.

“I’m not so sure I didn’t make a mistake by doing that,” Haskins said. “We were on top of our game. It seemed like we had a little letdown going into WAC play.”

In the three previous seasons, there has been no letting down in WAC play. UTEP tied for the conference championship in 1982-83, won the regular-season championship and first WAC postseason tournament in 1983-84, and won the regular-season championship in 1984-85. However, SDSU won the postseason tournament in 1984-85.

The Miners are led by two fourth-year players, 6-foot 11-inch center Dave Feitl and 6-6 forward Juden Smith. Feitl leads the team in scoring (15.5) and rebounding (7.2). Smith, who missed six games earlier in the season with tendinitis in his right knee, is second in scoring (12.7) and rebounding (5.4).

Before the season, UTEP sent out brochures calling each player an “All-American candidate.” Haskins said that while both have had good games this season, neither has had “great years” to this point.

“With Juden Smith and Dave Feitl, you have a possibility of two first-round draft picks there,” Gaines said. “They’re probably the best players in our conference.”

Haskins disagreed, but what else would one expect?

Aztec Notes

Steffond Johnson, San Diego State’s 6-8 center, paced himself in practice Friday. “He wasn’t moving that well,” Smokey Gaines said. “We’re going to try to go slow with him and get him in decent shape.” Johnson had missed 12 straight games with a lower back injury before returning Thursday night against New Mexico. He had 6 points and 7 rebounds in 23 minutes as SDSU beat the Lobos, 71-68. . . . Isaac Hamilton, father of UTEP reserve forward Kevin Hamilton, died of a heart attack Friday morning in Los Angeles. Kevin returned home to be with his mother, Dora. . . . Don Haskins has been slowed with the flu for the past month. “I stay hoarse and keep cold all of the time,” he said.