Conference USA Tournament Opening Round
by Ryan Westin
The first round of Conference USA tournament action is complete and surprisingly brought no upsets in the four contests. The first round did bring three close contests, two of which were of the come-from-behind variety by Rice and Marshall. Rice was down by 11 in the second half until Morris Almond took over the game on his way to 31 points.
The second round should be even more entertaining with the top four seeds seeing their first action in the tournament. Host and number one seed Memphis will take on eight seed Marshall in the night cap, while the action will get started with UCF and Rice going at it for the third time this season. Houston will look to avenge a recent loss to Southern Miss and Tulane looks to do the same to Tulsa.
This tournament is still up for the taking, although it would still take a solid forty minutes from a team to knock off the likes of Memphis. Last year, the top four squads took advantage of their first round bye and advanced to the semifinals. Do not expect the same outcome this year as this league is pretty level talent-wise compared with last year and should see at least one of the top four go home early.
Almond leads the Owls to a come-from-behind win to advance
Rice was able to come from behind and regain the lead in the final minutes of this shoot out to advance to the second round, defeating UTEP 77-74. Morris Almond was able to knock down a clutch three-pointer to give the Owls the lead deep into second half and advance the Owls to a match up tomorrow against two seed UCF. The Owls are 0-2 against the Golden Knights this season and are now 15-15 on the year overall.
Stefon Jackson, who finished the day with 17 points, was able to put UTEP on the board first with a jump shot one minute into the contest. Almond, the Conference USA Player of the Year, was able to answer with a jump shot of his own and three the next time down the court to give the Owls their first lead. Almond scored the first 7 points for the Owls on his way to 31 in the game.
UTEP would go on to score nine unanswered points over the next two minutes of action to regain the lead at 11-5.
The Miners would hold the lead until they went cold with just under twelve minutes remaining in the first half. Rice took advantage of the opportunity and went on a 12-2 run to go up by 5 with just over seven minutes to go, when UTEP’s Malik Alvin was able to knock down a three to end the Owls’ run. UTEP was able to knock down six 3-pointers (43 percent from the perimeter) in the first half, led by two apiece from Stefon Jackson and Kevin Henderson, to lead the Miners to a 39-37 lead at the break.
Almond was stellar in the first stanza with 12 points, including two field goals from downtown, and he also grabbed 4 rebounds.
Jackson would lead the Miners to in scoring at the half with 12 points on his way to 17 on the day, and like Almond he had 4 rebounds in the first stanza.
Coming into the second half, Rice was able to regain the lead after Rodney Foster nailed a three for his only points of the contest. Almond and Jackson were able to steal the show again, with a three by Almond tying the game back up and then Jackson taking the lead right back with another three.
Later, Jackson was able to boast the Miners’ lead to seven with a jumper, but this time Almond was there to answer with a bucket to cut the lead right back to five. Kevin Henderson knocked down a huge three-pointer, one of three for him in the game, followed by a lay-up by Maurice Thomas after Almond’s shot was rejected at the other end. That gave the Miners an eleven-point advantage after Thomas converted from the line after being fouled.
Jackson would pick up his third and fourth fouls within a minute of each other and was quickly on the bench. Rice would take advantage of Barbee’s decision and were able to cut the lead back down to a manageable four with just eight minutes remaining.
After the two squads swapped baskets for the next couple of minutes, Rice was not able to cut into the UTEP lead until Lorenzo Williams knocked down a three to put the Owls within two with just under four minutes to go. After a UTEP turnover, a three from Almond gave the Owls the lead back at 70-69.
Jackson fouled out on an offensive foul with 1:12 left in the contest, and after the two squads swapped out free throws the Owls had themselves a two-point lead and the ball with a minute to go.
Charles Belton was able to pick the right time to score his only bucket, a jump shot to put the Owls up four. UTEP guard Marvin Kilgore was there to answer with a quick layup to cut the lead to two. Belton was fouled and made one of two from the charity stripe to put the Owls up by three with 13 ticks in the contest remaining.
UTEP shot up two prayers in the last seven seconds to no avail as Rice would hold on to pick up the victory and a ticket to the second round tomorrow to take on two seed UCF.
Assistance: UTEP was able to dish out 18 assists on the day and had 12 assists at the break, led by Dale Vanwright with all six of his assists in the first half.
Almond Joy: After being named Conference USA Player of the Year this morning, Almond decided to celebrate the feat on the hardwood. He led the Owls with 31 points, 8 rebounds 3 blocks and one steal in the first round victory. 19 of those points came in the second stanza, helping the Owls’ comeback.
What’s Next For UTEP?: UTEP’s season is likely over as they are now 14-17 and will likely not be considered for the NIT. Today’s contest will be the last for senior Kevin Henderson.
Southern Miss holds off SMU in low scoring affair
Southern Miss was able to advance to the second round for the second year in a row as they defeated SMU, 59-52 in the first round of the conference tournament. The Golden Eagles now set their eyes on quarterfinal opponent Houston, the No. 3 seed in the tournament. Southern Miss improved to 20-10 on the year while the Mustangs end their season at 14-17.
Jeremy Wise had 15 points in the game for Southern Miss and was able to get the game started with two free throws and a layup to give them an early 8-2 advantage. Jarvis Hill led the Golden Eagles in scoring with 16 and came through big with eight rebounds as well.
Southern Miss started the game shooting 5-9 from the floor, but allowed SMU to tie the game at 14 after 5 turnovers by the Golden Eagles in the first five minutes of the contest.
Southern Miss would keep its hot hand as they eliminated the turnovers. The Golden Eagles would go on a 14-2 to boast their lead to 28-19 with seven minutes to go in the first half.
SMU was able to reduce Southern Miss’ advantage down to four despite some poor shooting in the first half. The Mustangs shot 18.2 percent from beyond the arc in the first half and were 4-8 from the line.
In the second half SMU was able to keep within striking distance. Southern Miss’ hot hand cooled off and allowed the Mustangs to wipe out the nine-point deficit they faced with 18 minutes to go as SMU fought back to with reduce the gap to three-point advantage.
Southern Miss again was able to build the lead back to 10, capped off by a three from Hill. SMU scored five unanswered to cut the lead to five, but that was as close as they would get a Southern Miss held on.
Southern Miss will now face Houston in the second round of the Conference USA tournament. The Cougars have their mind’s set to avenge a loss late in regular season to the Golden Eagles.
60 Minutes: Southern Miss has now held 14 of their opponents this season to less than 60 points and is a spectacular 12-2 in those matchups.
Coach of the Year: Both coaches in this contest were former AP coach of the year. Larry Eustachy earned his while at Iowa State in 2000 and Matt Doherty was able to follow in Eustachy’s footsteps in 2001 when he earned the honor at North Carolina.
20 minutes: Southern Miss has improved to 16-1 on the season when the Golden Eagles held the lead at the break. The lone loss came at UCF when the Golden Knights defeated Southern Miss with a late comeback.
Block Party: SMU was able to reject six shots in the contest with Devon Pearson, Ike Ofoegbu and Donatas Rackauskas each swatting two.
No. 8 Marshall 53, No. 9 UAB 52
The Thundering Herd must have a higher calling, as they were able to hold UAB after an “offensive” second half. Marshall’s big halftime lead was almost not enough until Markell Humphrey put in an easy lay-up with 24 seconds in the game to give Marshall a 53-52 victory over UAB.
Marshall will now advance to the second round to face No. 1 Memphis in front of the host’s hometown crowd, where the Tigers have a 29-game winning streak.
Marshall was able to dominate the Blazers in the first half, going up 38-24 at the break. The Thundering Herd went cold in the second half – real cold, as they were only able to knock down just five shots in the second half for a total of only 15 points.
That left the door wide open for the UAB to get back into what seemed to be a blowout. Blazer head coach Mike Davis was very disheartened by the loss and how UAB could not pull off the victory when Marshall went ice cold.
“It’s really frustrating, very, very frustrating to be in this situation.” Davis said after the loss.
With 5:08 left in the game, Marshall held an eight-point lead after Humphrey hit a jumper to put Marshall up 51-43. UAB went on a run, finished off with a layup by Paul Delaney, to take a one point lead with 29 seconds left. Marshall pushed it up the court for an easy lay-up by Humphrey to regain the lead and put the Thundering Herd on top 53-52.
Mike Davis, Jr.’s jumper would not fall and UAB put Marshall’s Mark Dorris on the line. He missed the bonus one-and-one, giving the Blazers one last shot. After a timeout by UAB, two ticks remained in the contest when Paul Delaney’s 12-foot jumper rimmed out to give Marshall the victory.
Marshall now must regroup in a hurry as they play top-seeded Memphis tomorrow night in front of Tiger Nation.
No. 5 Tulsa 65, No. 12 East Carolina 50
East Carolina was no match for the more talented Tulsa in a game that was never really in question. East Carolina was shown the door early in this contest, as they were down 13 at the break and never came back. Tulsa head coach Doug Wojcik was able to take advantage of the situation and rested up some of his squad. Only one of his players was on the court more than 25 minutes.
Tulsa has its sights set on winning against Tulane again tomorrow, but just not in the same fashion they did earlier this year when they needed a three pointer from Rod Earls with two ticks on the clock. Memphis head coach John Calipari has stated that all squads in the conference have put a bull’s-eye on Memphis, but forgot a slight technicality: Tulane wants to avenge that loss to Tulsa.
Look at how Tulane played before the matchup earlier this season and after. For some reason, Tulsa rubbed them the wrong way and Tulane has gone onto win seven of their last nine contests, falling only at Memphis and at Houston.
This quarterfinal matchup looks to be one of the best on day two and could go either way.
