The University of Memphis men's basketball team is off and running and may be on their way to a TiVo National Invitational Tournament title.
First they will have to shoot past the Miners of the University of Texas El Paso.
After a 71-62 road win against Mountain West conference co-champion Utah last week, the Tigers will be returning to the Pyramid tonight for the second round of the NIT.
Memphis won an NIT game on the road for the first time as Earl Barron scored 18 points, going 7-of-14 from the field in the Tigers win out west.
Senior forward Shamel Jones scored 10 points, had seven rebounds, blocked two shots and had three assists against the Utah Utes and averaged 13.7 points and seven rebounds while shooting 65 percent from the floor in Memphis's three post season games.
All Western Athletic Conference senior forward Brandon Wolfram scored 24 points in UTEP's 84-74 win over McNeese State last week as the Miners advanced to the second round with the Tigers as their next opponent.
Wolfram led the WAC in scoring, averaging 22.5 points along with 7.5 rebounds a game, while three other players also averaged double-figures for the Miners.
WAC All-Newcomer Team member Eugene Costello is averaging 14.4 points per game and ranks fourth in the league with a 4.57 assist average.
The winner of Tuesday's game will take on the winner of the New Mexico (20-12) and Pepperdine (22-8) game at a campus site yet to be determined.
UTEP finished in a tie with Tulsa for second in the WAC regular season standings and went 1-1 at the WAC tournament, defeating Southern Methodist University 74-70 before suffering a 59-56 loss to Tulsa in the semifinals.
The Miners began the year by winning 14 of their first 15 games.
UTEP's lone loss was a 94-81 setback against Conference USA's Charlotte, back in December.
The WAC has three teams ranked among the top 20 in Division I scoring, including UTEP -- which is ranked 18th nationally with an 80.7 scoring average.
They are also ranked among the top 10 nationally in field goal percentage, shooting 49.4 percent from the field.
The Miners are shooting 75.4 percent from free throw line -- they are making their first season appearance since advancing to the second rebound of the NIT in 1995.
UTEP was eliminated by border rival New Mexico State 92-89 in overtime.
Memphis owns an historic 3-1 record against UTEP, but has not played them in more than 20 years.
The Tigers were 1-0 against UTEP in Memphis as the two teams played a home-and-home series in the late 1950's, and the two teams also met in the Sun Bowl classic twice in the 1970's.
UTEP posted an 85-79 win in 1971, while the Tigers claimed a 71-65 first-round victory against the Miners in the 1977 Sun Bowl Classic.
The U of M is 21-17 against the WAC - Fresno State (2-1), Hawaii (2,3), Rice (2,0), SMU (1-1), Texas Christian (3,0), UTEP (3,1) and Tulsa (8-11).
