UTPA looking to end four-week road swing with win

EDINBURG -- Ben Smith was talking about how nice it was to have five days of no traveling and then he remembered the University of Texas-Pan American men's basketball team had a flight to catch at 5 in the morning Friday.

The Broncs (3-6) took off to play Air Force (6-2) at 4 p.m. today in Colorado, in the last of nine straight games away from home.

"(Friday) doesn't count," the junior guard said laughing. "This is the longest we have been home this long in forever. I don't remember the last time I slept in my own bed for four nights."

UTPA has not played at home since it opened the season against Sul Ross State on Nov. 15. Since then the Broncs have been to Las Vegas twice, California, Colorado, Iowa and now back to Colorado. As much as they enjoyed a few days at home before their next trip, it was finals week at UTPA.

"We have been doing a lot of studying and traveling these past couple of weeks," Broncs junior forward Nathan Hawkins said. "It feels good to get in town for our finals."

Both Smith (9.9 ppg, 3.0 rpg) and Hawkins (8.2 ppg, 5.0 rpg) said a win over Air Force today would help make the stress o f being a student-athlete feel a lot better. They both also agree that it would be a big confidence builder to end this four-week road trip with a victory.

"We feel like it is kind of a must win," Smith said. "We know we could beat these guys. We played well against Drake. We play the same kind of game as Drake. We could play with Drake, so we know we could play with Air Force.

"We want to get a win on the road. It is tough to get a win on the road when you don't have home-court advantage and sometimes calls don't go your way. Of course, we are looking to get a win."

A win over a conference-affiliated team would look good for the Broncs. The fact that the Broncs' last four losses have come by a combined 16 points has the team confident it can pull off a win.

"This is a Mountain West team, who we have played in the past," Hawkins said. "I heard we have played pretty well against them in the past. I think we match up pretty well with them. I think we can give them a game."

The Broncs have their work cut out for them. The Falcons are 7-0 at home all-time against the Broncs, and over the last five years are 73-7 at Clune Arena.

"(The Falcons) are a good basketball team," Broncs coach Tom Scuhberth said. "They have been able to string together some wins here in a row. We have seen them, and we feel if we can go up there and, if we can as well as we did against Drake, we can beat a good team on their home court."

Peter Rasmussen covers UTPA athletics for Valley Freedom Newspapers. You can reach him at (956) 683-4448. For this and more local stories, visit www.themonitor.com.