Following back to back impressive wins over Southern and McNeese State, UTEP is in the midst of their first winning streak of the season as they head to Hawaii for the Diamond Head Classic starting tomorrow as they take on the Clemson Tigers.

After news over the weekend that the Miners had lost junior forward Malcolm Moore to a season-ending knee injury and potentially losing freshman forward Hooper Vint for an extended period of time, possibly most of the season due to a back injury, the UTEP frontcourt is much thinner as the competition stiffens prior to the start of conference play.

Not having Vint might not be the worst thing that could have happened to the team, but losing Moore is a big loss to the Miner frontcourt.  He started out of the gate slowly coming to UTEP as a junior college transfer from Tyler, Texas, but recently in the NMSU win and the close loss to UNLV, Moore was starting to make his presence felt on both ends of the floor as he was getting accustomed to playing against division one competition.

Head coach Tim Floyd was hoping to redshirt a few players this year, but I’m not not sure medical redshirts were what he had in mind as most felt Moore was going to help immediately with this young squad. Ironically, Vint would have benefited from Moore’s injury and probably would have received more playing time, but with his own injury issues UTEP will need the rest of their frontcourt players to make up for the losses of both players.

So how do the Miners adjust to the absences of Moore and Vint?

It goes without saying that senior forward Gabriel McCulley’s early return has been a great help to the Miner frontcourt and he is already making a huge difference with his experience as well as his offensive production.  He will be counted on heavily to make up for injury losses and might have to log more minutes than the coach staff had originally planned after his speedy recovery from his own injury issues.

Another important piece to the frontcourt is guard/forward freshman Julian Washburn; he has played primarily on the perimeter, but will be expected to play some in the post especially when Floyd employs a three-guard lineup.  Washburn has been a bright spot on the team offensively and has done a more than admirable job on defense with his length and athleticism.

The Miners will also look to sophomore center John Bohannon to play at a more consistent level and stay out of foul trouble to help soften the blow.  In his second year under Floyd he has not played up to the level that most have expected from him.  With the backcourt starting to find their groove and McCulley providing an offensive spark, Bohannon needs to focus on defense and rebounding and not worry about his offense.

One of the surprises of the season so far has been the play of freshman forward/center Cedrick Lang.  Lang has been steady down on the block and continues to improve with each game as evidenced by his career high 12 points in the win over McNeese State.  He is not afraid to mix it up and has done an admirable job down in the paint both offensively and defensively.  Lang might not be the most athletic player on the court, but is one of the smartest and hard working players on this young Miner team.

Additionally, the Miners also return sophomore forward Kevin Perry who could provide some valuable minutes with his 245-pound frame and gives Floyd another five fouls to give Lang, McCulley and Bohannon some much needed rest throughout the season.

While the situation is not ideal and there will be some tough games against bigger teams this Miner frontcourt is not in dire straits.  Fortunately for Floyd and his staff the team has had two games against lesser competition (Southern and McNesse State) to help prepare for the remainder of non-conference play before hitting the Conference USA schedule in January.

The road ahead is challenging starting with the upcoming tournament in Hawaii that should provide not only the frontcourt, but the entire team a great learning experience as they prepare for the remainder of the season.

So sit back and enjoy the ride, might get a little bumpy, but will be fun to watch.

Josh Puga can be reached at show@minerillustrated.com or you can follow him on Twitter at @jpuga1966.