Conference USA Basketball Weekly Review

Scores

Tuesday, December 13

UCF 77, North Carolina A&T 65

Wednesday, December 14

Rice 109, Louisiana 51

UNLV 65, UTEP 54

Thursday, December 15

Jackson State 59, SMU 58

Friday, December 16

East Carolina 71, UNC-Greensboro 62

Saturday, December 17

Louisville 95, Memphis 87

UCF 61, Old Dominion 53

Tulsa 80, Texas-Arlington 75

Southern Mississippi 86, Ole Miss 82

Marshall 79, High Point 59

Oklahoma 79, Houston 74

Lamar 87, Rice 81

UTEP 87, Southern 57

This past week was not a happy one for Conference USA. A league with multiple basketball schools whose brand names once carried a lot of weight across the national – Memphis, UAB, Houston, Tulsa, and UTEP – is just not getting off the ground. This Southern-flavored conference needs to get three teams into the NCAA Tournament on a regular basis to feel that it is hitting its target and making good use of the resources at its disposal, but after this past weekend, the odds just continue to rise against that notion. To be even more specific and damning about it all, it’s becoming increasingly likely that C-USA will be a one-bid league in the Big Dance.

First of all, the Memphis team that began the year ranked eighth in the United States has simply failed to deliver big-time results. Head coach Josh Pastner was supposed to have turned the corner this season, finally hauling in his own recruiting class and putting his stamp on the program that John Calipari turned into a heavyweight. Memphis struggled to find its footing in Pastner’s first two seasons, which was perfectly understandable in light of the young coach’s inexperience as the leader of a program. Pastner served under Lute Olson at Arizona and then under Calipari in Memphis, so he wasn’t expected to win from the very beginning in Memphis. Two years of seasoning, however, were supposed to prepare him for this, an expected breakthrough campaign. It’s just not happening, however.

Memphis fell to Louisville this past Saturday, missing out on yet another opportunity to register a high-value win that would impress the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball committee. Memphis trailed by 10 points at halftime but rallied to take a 58-55 lead over coach Rick Pitino’s Cardinals with 11 minutes left. Thanks to the strong play of Will Barton – who finished 7-of-14 from the field and 14-of-19 from the foul line, en route to a 28-point, 16-rebound masterpiece – Memphis gained substantial momentum and had Louisville on its heels. However, the Tigers couldn’t push through to the finish line. The Tigers consistently sent the Cardinals to the foul line, enabling Louisville to hit 32 free throws in 40 attempts. A general lack of discipline at the defensive end of the floor doomed Memphis; Louisville scored 40 points in the final 11 minutes to race to a 95-87 win. Memphis has a lot of work to do if it wants to get an NCAA bid without winning the C-USA Tournament in March.

Elsewhere, C-USA didn’t fare well, either. Houston lost at Oklahoma. UTEP missed out on a chance for a resume-enhancing win when it lost at UNLV. Tulsa and UAB had light weeks, with UAB not playing at all. The hour grows late, even though it’s only December.