MEN’S BASKETBALL 2013-14 Season e FINAL NOTEBOOK Contact: Courtney Morrison Archer e [email protected] e (214) 774-1352 CHARLOTTE e EAST CAROLINA e FIU e FLORIDA ATLANTIC e LOUISIANA TECH MARSHALL e MIDDLE TENNESSEE e NORTH TEXAS e OLD DOMINION e RICE SOUTHERN MISS e TULANE e TULSA e UAB e UTEP e UTSA @Conference_USA e @CUSAMBK e #CUSAMBK e ConferenceUSA 2013-14 MEN’S BASKETBALL STANDINGS (FINAL) | ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ CONFERENCE ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ | | ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ OVERALL ‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐ | TEAM W‐L PCT. H A W‐L PCT. H A N L 10 Streak e LOUISIANA TECH 13‐3 .813 8‐0 5‐3 29‐8 .784 14‐1 10‐5 5‐2 8‐2 L1 e #TULSA 13‐3 .813 7‐1 6‐2 21‐13 .618 11‐3 6‐7 4‐3 9‐1 L1 e MIDDLE TENNESSEE 13‐3 .813 7‐1 6‐2 24‐9 .727 14‐2 8‐5 2‐2 8‐2 L1 e SOUTHERN MISS 13‐3 .813 8‐0 5‐3 29‐7 .806 15‐0 10‐6 4‐1 8‐2 L1 UTEP 12‐4 .750 5‐3 7‐1 23‐11 .676 14‐7 8‐2 1‐2 5‐5 L2 OLD DOMINION 9‐7 .563 5‐3 4‐4 18‐18 .500 12‐6 5‐9 1‐3 6‐4 L1 TULANE 8‐8 .500 5‐3 3‐5 17‐17 .500 12‐7 4‐6 1‐4 4‐6 L2 UAB 7‐9 .437 3‐5 4‐4 18‐13 .581 12‐5 5‐5 1‐3 4‐6 L4 CHARLOTTE 7‐9 .437 5‐3 2‐6 17‐14 .548 10‐5 3‐8 4‐1 3‐7 L1 FIU 7‐9 .437 4‐4 3‐5 15‐16 .484 9‐6 5‐8 1‐2 4‐6 W2 NORTH TEXAS 6‐10 .375 2‐6 4‐4 16‐16 .500 9‐7 6‐6 1‐3 5‐5 L1 FLORIDA ATLANTIC 5‐11 .313 2‐6 3‐5 10‐22 .313 7‐8 3‐11 0‐3 2‐8 L7 EAST CAROLINA 5‐11 .313 4‐4 1‐7 17‐17 .500 10‐7 3‐10 4‐0 4‐6 L2 UTSA 4‐12 .250 4‐4 0‐8 8‐22 .267 7‐9 1‐12 0‐1 1‐9 L6 MARSHALL 4‐12 .250 2‐6 2‐6 11‐22 .333 8‐8 2‐12 1‐2 3‐7 L1 RICE 2‐14 .125 2‐6 0‐8 7‐23 .233 5‐9 2‐11 0‐3 1‐9 L8 e Regular Season Co‐Champions #Tournament Champion POSTSEASON GAMES 2014 C-USA CHAMPIONSHIP A History of Greats e Who’s Next? NCAA SECOND ROUND (San Diego, Calif.) (Don Haskins Center, El Paso, Texas) The 16 schools of Conference USA boast a Friday, March 21 Tuesday, March 11 history of greats, from Louisiana Tech’s Karl (4) UCLA 76, (13) Tulsa 59 e(10) North Texas 63, (15) Rice 62 (OT) Malone to UTEP’s Tim Hardaway. Players e who show up on the scene and make a NATIONAL INVITATION TOURNAMENT (NIT) (14) Marshall 63, (11) Florida Atlantic 59 e name, and every year these schools will be Wednesday, March 19 (12) East Carolina 79, (13) UTSA 76 churning out more. Might be a good idea to Louisiana Tech 89, Iona 88 Wednesday, March 12 tune in and track them. Stand watch and see Southern Miss 66, Toledo 59 e(7) Tulane 66, North Texas 61 all the greats at ConferenceUSA.com. Saturday, March 22 e(6) Old Dominion 73, Marshall 58 Louisiana Tech 69, Georgia 61 e(5) UTEP 77, East Carolina 68 Sunday, March 23 e(9) Charlotte 80, (8) UAB 70 Conference USA Online Southern Miss 71, Missouri 63 Thursday, March 13 www.ConferenceUSA.com Tuesday, March 25 e(2) Tulsa 70, Tulane 49 Minnesota 81, Southern Miss 73 e(3) Middle Tennessee 62, Old Dominion 48 Facebook Wednesday, March 26 e (4) Southern Miss 64, UTEP 56 ConferenceUSA Florida State 78, Louisiana Tech 75 e(1) Louisiana Tech 86, Charlotte 65 Friday, March 14 COLLEGE BASKETBALL INVITATIONAL (CBI) Twitter Wednesday, March 19 eTulsa 76, Middle Tennessee 69 Old Dominion 72, South Dakota State 65 eLouisiana Tech 88, Southern Miss 70 @Conference_USA Princeton 56, Tulane 55 Saturday, March 15 @CUSAMBK Fresno State 61, UTEP 56 eTulsa 69, Louisiana Tech 60 Monday, March 24 Instagram All-Tournament Team Old Dominion 82, Radford 59 ConferenceUSA Wednesday, March 26 James Woodard, Tulsa (MVP) Fresno State 71, Old Dominion 64 Alex Hamilton, Louisiana Tech Kenneth “Speedy” Smith, Louisiana Tech Tag Us Neiko Hunter, Middle Tennessee #CUSAMBK Michael Craig, Southern Miss 2013-14 CONFERENCE USA MEN’S BASKETBALL CHARLOTTE e EAST CAROLINA e FIU e FLORIDA ATLANTIC e LOUISIANA TECH MARSHALL e MIDDLE TENNESSEE e NORTH TEXAS e OLD DOMINION e RICE SOUTHERN MISS e TULANE e TULSA e UAB e UTEP e UTSA SEVEN C-USA MEN’S BASKETBALL TEAMS ADVANCE TO POSTSEASON PLAY A total of seven Conference USA men’s basketball teams earned a spot in the postseason, with Tulsa taking the NCAA automatic berth. Louisiana Tech and Southern Miss have both advanced to the NIT quarterfinals. Old Dominion, Tulane and UTEP played in the College Basketball Inviational (CBI), with the Monarchs set to host Radford for a second-round game Monday. Additionally, East Carolina had the chance to defend its 2013 CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT) crown. TULSA (15 NCAA appearances ‐ 1955, 82, 84, 85, 86, 87, 94, 95, 96, 97, 99, 2000‐Elite Eight, 02, 03, 14) Tulsa’s 11-game win streak came to an end with a 76-59 loss to No. 4 seed UCLA in the NCAA Tournament March 21. Sophomore D'Andre Wright led Tulsa with 18 points, including 12 in the second half, while James Woodard extended his consecutive double-digit scoring streak to 27 games with 11 points.The Golden Hurricane was making its 15th NCAA appearance, first since 2003 and first under head coach Danny Manning. Tulsa and UCLA had played five times before and the Bruins held a 3-2 series advantage. TU had won the previous two meetings, including a 112-102 victory against the No. 17 Bruins in a 1994 NCAA Tournament first round game, and a 77-76 overtime game in the 1996 season opener as a part of the preseason NIT. The head coaches of this year’s match-up were part of back-to-back NCAA championship teams as players: Steve Alford and Indiana won in 1987, and Manning and Kansas earned the 1988 title. LOUISIANA TECH (8 NIT appearances ‐ 1986‐3rd, 88, 90, 92, 2002, 06, 13, 14) Louisiana Tech raced out to a 26-point first half lead and withstood a furious Georgia rally in a 79-71 victory in the second round of the National Invitation Tournament. Four LA Tech players scored in double figures, led by 20 points from sophomore Alex Hamilton. With the win, Tech tied the program record with 29 victories (29-7), matching the total set by the 1984-85 team which advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16. It also advances to the quarterfinal round and will play the winner of Monday night's Georgetown/Florida State game. LA Tech is making its eighth overall NIT appearance and the Iona game was only the fourth time it has hosted, the last one coming in 2002. Last season, LA Tech upended Florida State, 71-66, in Tallahassee, Fla., before falling at current conference foe Southern Miss in the second round. The Bulldogs are now 10-7 all-time in NIT games and a perfect 4-0 at home. LA Tech defeated Iona, 89-88, in the first round March 19. Junior G Kenneth “Speedy” Smith scored the game winner with 2.2 seconds left in regulation off a putback layup following a Hamilton miss. The pair were among six Bulldogs that scored in double-figures with 14 and 12 points, respectively. Smith also added five rebounds, six assists and five steals. LA Tech was led in scoring with 15-point outputs from seniors Jaron Johnson and reserve Kenyon McNeail, the C-USA Sixth Man of the Year. Senior Chris Anderson registered his third double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds, while Michale Kyser added 12 points and nine boards. SOUTHERN MISS (10 NIT appearances ‐ 1981, 86, 87‐Champions, 88, 94, 95, 98, 2001, 13, 14) Southern Miss ended its season March 26 with an 81-73 loss to host Minnesota in the NIT quarterfinals. The Golden Eagles won their school-record 29th game of the season by defeating host Missouri, 71-63, March 23. Senior Neil Watson scored a team-high 18 points and junior transfer Aaron Brown added 16 points for the third-seeded Golden Eagles. Jeremiah Eason's layup broke a 14-14 tie with 9:34 remaining in the first half and Southern Miss led the rest of the way, handing Missouri its first home non-conference loss since the 2005-06 season - snapping an impressive 82-game streak. The Golden Eagles have compiled a 10-9 record all-time in 10 NIT appearances, which included last season and a 1987 NIT Championship. Southern Miss also improved to 15-0 at Reed Green Coliseum following a 66-59 victory over Toledo in thefirst round March 19. The Golden Eagles led, 34-19, at the break. However, Toledo scored the first 11 points of the second half to cut the deficit to four just 3:37 into the half. Senior Michael Craig led Southern Miss with 16 points, nine rebounds and four assists. Watson added 12 points and Jerrold Brooks had 11.