Memphis, TN (Sports Network) - Chris Douglas-Roberts scored 24 points and Derrick Rose added 17, as top-ranked Memphis remained the lone unbeaten team in Division I men's basketball with a narrow 70-64 victory over UTEP at FedEx Forum.

The Tigers (21-0, 7-0 Conference USA) simply could not shake the Miners and survived an awful shooting performance. Memphis made only 36.4 percent from the floor, including a dismal 1-for-17 effort from three-point range, and connected on just 21-of-41 free throws.

"I love winning. It doesn't matter how," said Memphis head coach John Calipari. "We can win with a half-court bank shot and I'm happy. I'm disappointed in some of our players who didn't play as well as I would have figured, but we found a way to try to win that game."

Stefon Jackson scored 27 points and grabbed seven rebounds for UTEP (13-7, 4-3), which had won two straight. Marvin Kilgore contributed 10 points for the Miners, who were in it right until the end.

A three-pointer by Randy Culpepper gave UTEP a 60-58 lead with 3:45 to play, but Rose countered with a layup at the other end. Douglas-Roberts hit a jumper and added a free throw before Jackson's basket with 1:18 remaining pulled the Miners within one.

Rose then canned a jumper with less than a minute left and Culpepper misfired on a three-point attempt. Douglas-Roberts corralled the rebound and Rose drilled a pair from the stripe with 30 seconds left for a 67-62 lead.

Jackson quickly answered with a layup, but missed a free throw after he was fouled on the play. Antonio Anderson grabbed the rebound and hit one from the line at the other end for a 68-64 advantage with 20 seconds to play.

A miss by Kilgore in the closing seconds led to a pair of free throws by Robert Dozier to seal it.

"It was a great effort, but no moral victories here," lamented UTEP head coach Tony Barbee. "We played well and expected to win. Memphis is a very good team. We had our opportunities, but we could not take advantage of them."

The six-point margin was the closest for Memphis since a 62-58 win against Southern California at the Jimmy V Classic on December 4 at Madison Square Garden. The Tigers' closest call within the conference had been an 89-77 triumph at Houston on Wednesday.

Dozier finished with nine points and eight rebounds for Memphis, which extended its home winning streak to a nation's best 44 games. The 21-0 start is also the best for the Tigers, topping the old mark of 20-0 set by the 1985-86 team.

A tight first half featured seven ties, the last coming at 21-21 on a layup by Dozier with just under seven minutes remaining. Douglas-Roberts drained a shot from beyond the arc on Memphis' next trip and added a layup to complete a 9-0 Tiger run to make it 26-21.

The Memphis lead reached seven before UTEP clawed back and pulled within 32-28 at the break. The Miners kept it close in the second half, never trailing by more than six, then tied it at 57-57 on a bucket by Culpepper with just over five minutes to play.

Culpepper finished with eight points for UTEP.