UTEP men's basketball: Hopeful Miners open Friday vs. Washington State

And a basketball season begins Friday night.

That sometimes joyous, sometimes frustrating, sometimes heartbreaking and always fun journey that is a basketball season will tip off Friday night when UTEP takes on Washington State in the Don Haskins Center. It is the first step in a long journey that will wind into March.

UTEP was 23-11 a year ago and Washington State was 10-21. The Miners defeated the Cougars 64-51 last December in Pullman. But the visitors have a new head coach, three returning starters and some talented additions. And, as every sports fan knows, this is not last year.

Ernie Kent, former head coach at St. Mary's and at Oregon, has taken over the Washington State program. He took Oregon to five NCAA Tournament appearances and reached the rarified air of the Elite Eight in 2002 and 2007.

"We'd like to think Ernie will run what he ran at Oregon," UTEP coach Tim Floyd said. "But who knows? It's been five years. But he is a terrific coach."

Floyd will begin his fifth season at UTEP and has an overall record of 409-232 in stops at Idaho, New Orleans, Iowa State and USC. He faced Kent a number of times when he was at USC and Kent was at Oregon. Floyd, the former Don Haskins assistant, is 81-52 after four seasons at UTEP. He has had 18 winning seasons in his 20 as a head coach.

Hopes are high this season for Floyd and these Miners. They received a trickling of votes in the Top 25 pre-season polls. The reality of it all begins Friday night.

"We know Washington State has a couple of all-league caliber guards and some strong inside play," Floyd said. "It's exciting for us to have a Pac-12 opponent here to open our season."

The Miners have a veteran team ... but a veteran team that will rely on an infusion of youth. A trio of seniors C.J. Cooper, Cedrick Lang and Julian Washburn are ready to begin their final season.

"My last first game," Cooper said, shaking his head and smiling. "It's gone by really fast. I remember my freshman year, getting ready to play my first game. I was a little nervous. But I was more excited than anything ... just excited to play my first college game."

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UTEP men's basketball: Hopeful Miners open Friday vs. Washington State