Conference USA Basketball Weekly Review

Scores

Monday, December 19

Creighton 83, Tulsa 64

East Carolina 76, Coastal Carolina 51

Memphis 85, Lipscomb 75

Marshall 87, Belmont 86

SMU 84, Southeast Missouri State 65

Temple 77, Rice 70

UTEP 69, McNeese State 54

Southern Mississippi 64, Arizona State 61

Tuesday, December 20

Houston 77, UTSA 75

VCU 68, UAB 49

Wednesday, December 21

Marshall 99, West Virginia Tech 80

Louisiana-Lafayette 61, UCF 60

Houston 90, Rogers State 80

Thursday, December 22

Syracuse 80, Tulane 61

Georgetown 70, Memphis 59

UAB 70, Jacksonville State 65

Southern Mississippi 53, South Florida 51

SMU 77, Dallas Christian 41

Rice 65, Texas A&M 58

UTEP 61, Clemson 48

East Carolina 69, Gardner-Webb 55

Friday, December 23

Kansas State 78, UTEP 70

Sunday, December 25

UTEP 83, Auburn 76

This past week, Conference USA lost still more ground in its attempt to produce more than one NCAA Tournament team or, in other words, to ensure at least one at-large selection to the Big Dance in March. Memphis was and is the one club with the non-conference strength of schedule that could push C-USA into multi-bid territory. However, young coach Josh Pastner continues to struggle as a bench boss. The former Lute Olson assistant is not changing perceptions across the country; more precisely, he's not changing the impression held by much of the national press - namely, that if a game isn't an all-out, 94-foot fast-break festival, Pastner can't make meaningful adjustments. Halfcourt games leave Pastner without answers; or at least, if Pastner does have answers, his players fail to act like they know what to do on the floor. Memphis's halfcourt sets half no structure; the Tigers rarely establish any appreciable semblance of rhythm and cohesion when they try to run plays in their offensive system. This is a disjointed team with a low basketball IQ, and that can never reflect well on the head coach. Memphis's 11-point loss to Georgetown on Thursday night was even more lopsided than the final score indicated. The Tigers just don't have very much they can point to in terms of gaining the respect of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee. Memphis beat Tennessee at the Maui Invitational late last November, but as we've seen this season, Tennessee is hardly a high-value win. Memphis lost once to Michigan and Louisville while dropping a pair of decisions to Georgetown. UM lost to the Hoyas in Maui before getting drummed again by Georgetown this past week. All in all, Pastner needs to work smarter if he's going to turn around his program and win newfound admiration from his peers in the coaching profession.

Elsewhere in C-USA, Marshall scored perhaps the best win for the league in a one-point triumph over Belmont. The Thundering Herd are grinding well, and that win should certainly propel them for the next week or so. UTEP had a decent weekend in Hawaii at the Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu. The Miners lost to Kansas State, but they sandwiched that defeat with wins over Clemson and Auburn.

Rice did beat Texas A&M, but the Owls lost to Temple earlier in the week, minimizing their upward advancement over the past seven days. Central Florida suffered a brutal defeat at the hands of Louisiana-Lafayette. UAB got whacked by Virginia Commonwealth in a matchup of two teams who made last season's inaugural First Four event. The bad week for C-USA began when Tulsa fell to Creighton by a whopping 19 points.