|
East Carolina-Houston C-USA Tournament Notes
Bonesville.net
East Carolina and Houston each have a degree of
momentum heading into their battle at 3:30 PM on Wednesday in the opening
round of the Conference USA Tournament in Cincinnati.
The Pirates, seeded No. 11, gained some steam and
some confidence in the final weeks of the regular season, winning four of
their last six games. The victories included a national-scale shocker over
nationally-ranked Marquette as well as a 17-point trouncing of this same
Houston team.
Meanwhile, the Cougars regrouped from a rash of
suspensions to close out their regular season with a triumph over UAB,
earning the tourney's No. 6 seed.
The winner of the ECU-Houston rematch will face
Memphis at 3:30 PM Thursday in a quarterfinal contest. Following, compiled
from C-USA reports, are thumbnails on ECU, Houston and Memphis:
EAST CAROLINA (12-17, 5-11): East Carolina
nearly overcame a nine-point halftime deficit but fell at TCU, 66-63 on
March 2. KENYATTA BROWN had 14 points, while GABRIEL MIKULAS had his first
double-double of the season with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Freshman MOUSSA
BADIANE is now tied for second in Conference USA history for most blocked
shots in a single-season (84). The Pirates entered the TCU game as one of
Conference USA's top five free throw shooting teams but managed to hit just
three of their six attempts at the charity stripe. Brown has scored in
double figures in each of his last five games and is averaging nearly 15
points per game during that stretch.
HOUSTON (16-13, 9-7): Houston clinched the sixth seed in the
Conference USA Tournament with a 76-72 victory over UAB on March 2. DOMINIC
SMITH's 20 points led four UH players in double figures. This marks the
seventh time this season that Smith has scored at least 20 points, including
two 30-plus point outings. Smith, LOUIS TRUSCOTT and MARCUS OLIVER, who were
each suspended on Feb. 24 for violation of team policy, were reinstated for
the UAB game. Truscott, who is third in C-USA with 12 double-doubles, scored
12 points against the Blazers, as did Oliver. Truscott is fourth in the
league in rebounding at 9.4 per game. He is also third in the league in
field goal percentage at 57.1 percent.
MEMPHIS (22-8, 12-4): Memphis suffered an
80-75 overtime loss at No. 4 Cincinnati on March 3. DAJUAN WAGNER (28
points) had at least 20 points for the 20th time this season. ANTONIO BURKS
(14 points, five assists) tallied double figures for the third time in four
games. The Tigers lead the league in rebound margin, but Cincinnati posted a
48-34 advantage on the glass. KELLY WISE, Conference USA's all-time leading
rebounder, needs 20 more boards to move into third on Memphis' career list.
Wise is fourth nationally among active players with 42 double-doubles.
Memphis became the first Cincinnati opponent in 133 games to hold the
Bearcats without a three-pointer. Mrmphis is 19-5 this season and 40-8 in
the head coach JOHN CALIPARI era when scoring at least 70 points.
— Compiled from C-USA Reports. —
- 30 -
----- |
