Bears Ready for First Big Test of 2010-11 Season at UTEP

Pre-Game Notes

EL PASO, Texas – Mercer University's men's basketball team will continue the whirlwind beginning to its 2010-11 season on Sunday afternoon at the University of Texas-El Paso. Tip-off is set for Noon (Mountain Time) at the 12,000-seat Don Haskins Center.

The Bears opened their season on Friday night with a 67-44 win over NCAA III Oglethorpe University and then had to depart the MU campus at 7 a.m. Saturday for the flight to El Paso. With laptops and books in tow to cram in some study hours on the plane and in the airports, the Bears arrived in El Paso around 2 p.m. (Mountain Time) on Saturday.

This will be the first-ever meeting between Mercer and UTEP. The game versus the Miners is the first of four against NCAA tournament teams from 2009-10 on the Bears' schedule this season.

UTEP lost its season opener at home on Friday evening to Pacific, 66-61, before a sellout crowd of 12,222 (its first sellout since 1986). The Miners blew an 11 point halftime cushion, finding themselves out-scored in the second half by a 41-25 margin by the Tigers.

GAMES NOTES:

*UTEP is coached by veteran collegiate coach Tim Floyd, in his first season at the Miners' helm (and 17^th overall).  Even though UTEP has never played Mercer before, Floyd is no stranger to the Bears. In MU's 2007-08 season opener, the Bears shocked No. 18 ranked Southern California (featuring O.J. Mayo), 96-81 on the Trojans' home floor, when USC was coached by none other than Floyd.

*Bob Hoffman is 0-1 against UTEP, having faced the Miners while he was the head coach at Texas-Pan American.

*The game between UTEP and Mercer is actually a regional game of the Legends Classic tournament. The Bears will also play in a sub-regional three-game series as a part of the Legends Classic on Nov. 26-28 in Williamsburg, Va. UTEP will be a part of the four-team national Legends Classic tournament in Atlantic City during that same time.