Conference USA Basketball Weekly Review

Scores

Tuesday, December 27

Southern Mississippi 93, Belhaven 48

Wednesday, December 28

Houston 71, North Carolina A&T 67

Oklahoma State 68, SMU 58 (2OT)

UAB 56, George Washington 49

Rice 78, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 66

Colorado State 56, UTEP 53

Tulsa 68, Mercer 62

Thursday, December 29

East Carolina 84, North Carolina Central 76

Memphis 64, Robert Morris 47

UCF 80, Stetson 70

UTEP 79, Arkansas-Pine Bluff 58

Belmont 79, Marshall 74

Southern Mississippi 80, Alcorn State 49

Friday, December 30

UCF 65, Rhode Island 54

Houston 94, Texas State 71

Saturday, December 31

East Carolina 91, Virginia-Wise 56

Texas 73, Rice 59

Tulane 53, Texas-Pan Am 42

Southern Mississippi 65, McNeese State 56

SMU 73, Louisiana Tech 65

UAB 92, Alabama A&M 58

Tulsa 74, TCU 66

Memphis 67, Charlotte 58

Sunday, January 1

Akron 67, Marshall 51

This past week, Conference USA seemed to take a collective breather before its conference season began. There simply weren't many consequential or colorful games to be found in this league. The final week of December was a time for the upper-tier teams to play some cupcake games, thereby resting their starters and giving their reserves more time on the court. Legs need to be fresh for the start of the conference wars, so that's why you saw a dearth of main-event matchups.

Memphis played Robert Morris and Charlotte, cruising to a pair of relatively comfortable wins. Tulsa held back TCU, one of the worst clubs in the Mountain West Conference. Alabama Birmingham played Alabama A&M this past weekend to ease its way into Conference USA's season. Tulane was busy polishing off Texas-Pan American. East Carolina played a lower-division school, seeking a breather more than a challenge in the final days before the C-USA schedule imposes a much stiffer set of challenges. Southern Mississippi played a road game, but it was against McNeese State, a team without the same resources the Golden Eagles can claim for their own. Houston played Texas State, another downmarket opponent in a week that was brimming with them.

One of the better wins of the past week for C-USA was Central Florida's win over Rhode Island. It's true that Rhode Island is definitely not as strong as it has been in previous seasons, but UCF should nevertheless be encouraged by a victory against a program with a somewhat credible basketball reputation. Rhode Island isn't a regular NCAA Tournament participant, but it has been a consistent NIT-level program. UCF did much better than its conference brethren in terms of scheduling this past week.

Marshall and UTEP had the worst weeks of any C-USA clubs. The Thundering Herd lost to Belmont and Akron to tumble down the ladder in the world of college hoops. UTEP lost to Colorado State in yet another setback for a team that is failing to play up to its potential.