Winning is the thing. Given the nature of the thing — seemingly the product of fortune and chance — the search for controllable elements not solely controlled by the whims of fate goes on. This is why you hear coaches spout clichés on “controlling what we can control”. Like all clichés, there is truth in there.
North Texas pulled out a win in the Don Haskins Center in El Paso, completed the task and got the win. Sure, the game-winning shot for UTEP could have fallen and everyone would have felt bad about the whole thing. There are lessons to be learned from the final sequence any way but those lessons are easier to take when they are surrounded by the positive reinforcement of the win.
There are much tougher teams in this league and much tougher venues but NT had never won in the house of Haskins and the first win over UTEP since 1952.
This game was back-and-forth and that it ended so interestingly is then unsurprising. This was the first CUSA win for McCasland and only the third CUSA win dating back to last season for this program. It is significant. This, as they say, is something to build on.
Next up: a trip down to San Antonio to take on a tough Roadrunner squad.
