UTEP's Zid Powell making most of one season with Miners

Zid Powell is not someone enamored with the path of least resistance.

UTEP's senior point guard was in a good situation last year, where he was an established star at Buffalo, but Powell wanted a new challenge.

In this case, that meant going across the country, to his third college in three years, and putting himself in a position where he had to be a leader for a team he was completely new to.

That's how Powell decided to spend his senior season in college basketball.

"That was a big decision for me because this is my last year," said Powell, who will lead his team into Sunday's game at Abilene Christian. "Talking to coach (Joe) Golding, he felt genuine. He's a great coach and I trust him.

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"My role is definitely to be a leader."

That's expected for a point guard but not from a player new to a program. Powell had no choice but to start working toward that.

"It's getting better," Golding said. "It's tough for these kids who transfer in because they are coming to a brand new team, a brand new locker room. It's easy to be a leader when you've been in the locker room for three years, but I do think he's getting better with that.

"He's learning from a leadership standpoint to bring it every day. I'm proud of where he's headed, he's moving in the right direction for sure."

The on-the-court part hasn't been difficult, or at least Powell hasn't made it look that way. Through 10 games for the 6-4 Miners he's averaging 10.8 points, 5.1 rebounds and 3.3 assists, with that assist total ranking him seventh in Conference USA.

At times he has been able to take over games, such as a 10-minute stretch against Cal-Santa Barbara where he had 15 of his game-high 23 points, many coming on downhill drives to the basket where he looked un-guardable.

"Aggressive," was his terse answer when asked to describe his game. Golding expounded on that.

"Zid knows what we need from him," Golding said. "We need him to be more consistent on the floor, we need him to play better defense, we need him to stay out of foul trouble, we need him to not turn the basketball over.

"We need him to play like he did at that 10-minute mark against UC Santa Barbara, a game where I thought he might have been the best player in the country for 10 minutes.

"Transition. When he's in the open floor he's explosive. He's getting better defensively, he has great hands. He's got great basketball instincts and when he relies on those and gets up the line, he's one of the best I've coached."

That's what UTEP was hoping for when they snagged him out of the transfer portal following his one season at Buffalo where he averaged 13.0 points and 2.7 assists. The Miners' in was assistant Bryen Spriggs, who coached Powell at his first college stop at the Community College of Beaver County in Powell's native Pennsylvania.

Powell took a visit to UTEP and was sold by the campus, the school and Golding's vision for the program.

Then began the process of becoming a leader off the court and in the locker room.

People look up to him because of "experience," Powell said. "People are going to listen to people who've done it. Especially the young guys, I try to let them know what to do, what not to do."

Guard Sebastian Cole sees that every day.

"He's a great leader," Cole said. "He has the confidence, he has the swag, he hits the floor every night and puts us at ease. He's experienced and we know we can count on him to take us forward."

Golding said that all starts by leading by example.

"In the locker room there are definitely alpha dogs in there, he's an alpha dog," Golding said. "We need him to be one. At the same time he has to learn how to bring it every day.

"You can be a leader and guys will follow you when you bring it every day. That's the secret recipe to it. He's learning he needs to do that, he's gotten much better over time. He's been good this week."

The hope is that can translate to UTEP reinvigorating its season at Abilene Christian.

"Everything is still coming along for us," Powell said. "It feels good. We're going to try to get back on track with a few wins, then tear El Paso up.

"Our bond is strong. Nobody is selfish, and when nobody is selfish, you can talk to each other."

That's an important task for Powell after making the decision that he would rather take on the challenge of leading UTEP than sitting in a comfort zone.

Bret Bloomquist can be reached at bbloomquist@elpasotimes.com; @Bretbloomquist on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: UTEP's Zid Powell making most of one season with Miners