After the Miners thrilling 70-64 overtime win over SMU this past Saturday night and after my blood pressure finally came down before calling it a night I kept thinking about the contributions of one player, senior Gabriel McCulley.

After SMU senior forward Robert Nyakundi’s potential game-winning three point shot at the end of regulation was called off, McCulley hit a huge three pointer early in the overtime period that would give the Miners a 56-53 lead they would not relinquish.  Once again proving how valuable the senior has been for this team.

Prior to the season I felt he would be a major contributor to this extremely young team even after missing the first five games of the season that saw the Miners get off to a disappointing 1-4 start.  What I didn’t see was how “major” his contributions have been with this inexperienced UTEP team.

The team we saw lose 4 of the first 5 games of the season, including the nightmarish 53-35 loss to Stephen F. Austin back in November, stayed back in 2011 and is much improved as 2012 is underway.

That isn’t to say this team hasn’t had its fair share of struggles this season, but once McCulley stepped on the floor in a close loss to Oregon in his first game back something just seemed to click.

Could one player make such a significant difference?

I have always and will continue to believe in the old saying “there is no “I” in team”.

However, McCulley’s experience and high level of play has provided this team with a spark that was missing earlier this season.

I am by no means a statistics expert, but the numbers don’t lie.

During the first five games without the senior, UTEP averaged 44.8 points per game opposed to 72 points per game with McCulley in the lineup as he has also doubled his own scoring average from last season (six points a game in 2010-2011 to a shade above 12 points per contest so far this season).  And we can’t forget the most important factor to his earlier than expected return to the team, the 8-5 record the Miners have posted in his 13 games in the lineup after a 1-4 start without his services.

Now look, I understand this team isn’t going to be contending for a Conference USA title this year, but McCulley will go a long way to helping this team achieve a record close to .500 and continue to develop even when plays his last game in a UTEP jersey.

Based on the early dismal start I don’t even want to know what the UTEP record would look like if McCulley had taken longer to rehab his injury.  He has been that stabilizing force on both ends of the court and has brought much needed confidence to his teammates that was sorely missing in the early part of the season.

May not seem that impressive to college basketball fans outside of El Paso, but McCulley has been UTEP’s most valuable player up to this point and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.  I am not taking away anything from Mike Perez, John Bohannon or any other Miner that has been instrumental in many of the UTEP wins because McCulley cannot do it alone, but his leadership has provided the road map to success for this improving young squad.

With 12 games left on the schedule I believe his best is yet to come.

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