Conference USA Basketball Weekly Review

Scores

Tuesday, December 6

Memphis 71, Miami 54

Texas State 81, Houston 78

Syracuse 62, Marshall 56

Massachusetts 63, East Carolina 58

Wofford 61, Tulane 50

Wednesday, December 7

UAB 66, Middle Tennessee 56

Southern Mississippi 67, South Alabama 54

Wichita State 77, Tulsa 67

Saturday, December 10

Central Florida 53, Bethune-Cookman 51

Tulane 89, MacMurray 59

Southern Mississippi 78, Louisiana Tech 62

Saturday, December 10

Central Florida 53, Bethune-Cookman 51

Tulane 89, MacMurray 59

Southern Mississippi 78, Louisiana Tech 62

Sunday, December 11

Murray State 76, Memphis 72

Marshall 82, Iona 63

UTEP 73, New Mexico State 69

Tulane 59, Jacksonville State 51

This was a relatively light week in Conference USA, as teams are trying not to schedule too many contests in these weeks before Christmas. Conference USA’s schools don’t have the same budgets of those in power conferences, which is why teams have to be much more judicious about whom – and how often – they play. From the games that were staged over the past week, the news was not good for a league that needs to be able to get three or four teams into the NCAA Tournament to think of itself as a flourishing basketball operation. C-USA used to get multiple teams into the Dance when Louisville was still around, battling Memphis for league supremacy and creating a culture of competition that lifted all boats in the conference. Now, things are different, and it’s clear that Memphis – once so prominent under former coach John Calipari – is still a long way from becoming an elite team.

Murray State thoroughly outplayed Memphis on the road this past Sunday. The Racers raced to an 11-point lead with 1:43 left and withstood a furious charge to hold off the Tigers and move to 10-0. Memphis cut that 11-point deficit to just three points with 36.7 seconds left and had a chance to tie with a three, but coach Josh Pastner’s team was not up to the task. Murray held on for a four-point win which could shake the Tigers heading into conference play come early January. This was a blow to C-USA’s prestige that the conference did not need, especially after Houston’s loss in the C-USA football championship game cost the league $17 million.

Speaking of Houston, the Cougars were one of several C-USA teams to suffer a bad loss this past week. UH should never lose to Texas State in anything, but that’s what the Cougars did. Meanwhile, East Carolina fell at home to Massachusetts and Tulsa fell to Wichita State. UTEP’s win over a good New Mexico State club was probably C-USA’s most encouraging moment of the week.

That’s not a very inspiring notion, to say the least.