Conference USA Men's Basketball Recap and Weekend Preview
Middle Tennessee and LA Tech hold strong at first and second in the C-USA standings.
Conference USA
Middle Tennessee and Louisiana Tech picked up wins Thursday night to hold onto the No. 1 and 2 slots of the C-USA standings. Blue Raider senior Reggie Upshaw Jr. set the record for most career games played as MT held ODU, the league’s top defensive team, in a 64-51 win. UAB outscored Charlotte by 24 points in the paint and picked up an 82-69 victory to move into sole possession of third place.
UTSA improved to 10-1 at home with tonight’s 57-51 win over visiting southern Miss. Rice also picked up its third-straight win by defeating host FIU, 89-78. The two are now among a five-way tie for fifth place, which also includes Marshall, UTEP and WKU. North Texas earned its first conference victory of the season, winning on the road at Florida Atlantic, 70-64.
Standings/Results [PDF]
Statistics [PDF]
THURSDAY’S RESULTS
North Texas 70, at Florida Atlantic 64
Rice 89, at FIU 78
at UAB 82, Charlotte 69
at (RV) Middle Tennessee 64, Old Dominion 51
at UTSA 57, Southern Miss 51
Louisiana Tech 62, at UTEP 61
SHOOTING STARS
- (RV) MIDDLE TENNESSEE 64, OLD DOMINION 51: In a rematch of the 2016 C-USA Championship title game, Middle Tennessee came out ahead again with a 64-51 win over Old Dominion. ODU went into the game allowing a conference-low 61.1 points per game, but it was the Blue Raiders, the second-best defensive team in C-USA at 63.4 points per game allowed, that was superior. They held the Monarchs to just 40.8 percent (20-49) shooting from the floor and forced 16 turnovers, eight of which were steals. Senior Reggie Upshaw Jr. (Chattanooga, Tenn.) finished with a game-high 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting in his 129th career game at Middle Tennessee, setting a new school record. His 104 starts are now just one behind tying Kevin Kanaskie for the most all-time. Redshirt freshman B.J. Stith (Lawrenceville, Va.) paced the Monarchs with 17 points and six rebounds.
- Quotable: “I thought we executed really well down the stretch. It was a good win against a quality team. We keep a chart of 50-50 balls for both teams ... and we won that 21-9 tonight. We got loose balls and we converted some of those in transition. Especially in the first half, I thought our 1-3-1 was really good.” – Middle Tennessee head coach Kermit Davis
- LOUISIANA TECH 62, UTEP 61: Senior Erik McCree (Orlando, Fla.) led the Bulldogs with 19 points and eight rebounds in a 62-61 road win at UTEP. With the win, LA Tech improved to 9-3 in conference play and maintained hold of second place in the C-USA standings. Sophomore G Derric Jean (Miami, Fla.) added 12 points and freshman DaQuan Bracey (Baltimore, Md.) was credited with a career-high 11 assists along with nine points. UTEP did score the final seven points of the game, and held LA Tech scoreless the final 3:45, but it was not enough for the Miners to win their eighth game in their last nine outings. Junior Omega Harris (Bethany, Okla.) scored a team-high 14 points for UTEP and Paul Thomas posted his third double-double of the season with 11 points and 13 boards.
- UAB 82, CHARLOTTE 69: UAB’s three most prominent inside contributors – Chris Cokley (Savannah, Ga.), William Lee (Plantersville, Ala.) and Tosin Mehinti (Lithonia, Ga.) – scored a combined 37 points and hit 17-of-28 shots from the field as UAB outscored Charlotte by 24 points in the paint and won the game by an 82-69 final. Cokley scored a game-high 19 points, hitting 9-of-12 from the field. Lee finished with 15 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks. Charlotte sophomore and C-USA leading scorer Jon Davis (Upper Marlboro, Md.) scored a game-high 24 points.
- Quotable: “Coach told us to attack inside out. I think, at one point, we were shooting like 85 percent in the paint. We kept going inside, we kept going inside.” – UAB junior William Lee
- NORTH TEXAS 70, FLORIDA ATLANTIC 64: North Texas earned its first conference win of the season with a 70-64 decision at FAU. Senior J-Mychal Reese (Bryan, Texas) scored 21 points for the Mean Green, while junior F Shane Temara (Syracuse, N.Y.) finished with 18 points and nine rebounds. NT held off a second-half rally from the Owls, who was led by sophomore Jeantal Cylla (Lake Worth, Fla.).
- UTSA 57, SOUTHERN MISS 51: Junior Jeff Beverly (League City, Texas) led three Roadrunners in double-figures with 17 points and UTSA improved to 10-1 at home with a 57-51 win over Southern Miss at the Convocation Center. Beverly went 7-of-17 from the field and scored 13 points in the second. Sophomore F Nick Allen (Surprise, Texas) chipped in 14 points and eight rebounds, while freshman Byron Frohnen (Las Vegas, Nev.) added 12 points and nine rebounds. UTSA, who held an opponent to fewer than 60 points for the seventh time this season, committed a season-low eight turnovers and out-rebounded the visitors, 45-35. Senior F Raheem Watts (Greenville, S.C.) led Southern Miss with 17 points, while Quinton Campbell (Wilmer, Ala.) chipped in with 16 points.
- Quotable: “About a week and a half ago Nick made a little adjustment with his footwork. He’s been so tentative all year because he travelled so much, shifting feet and changing pivot feet. He cleaned that up and felt really, really good about it. He made a few plays the other day and just like that he got a little more confident. He’s aggressive now. To get a 3-pointer to go down always boosts somebody. Nick is a guy that we thought would make some shots early in the year and now he has the confidence to push off aggressively without travelling. It’s like he’s found a new toy to play with now.” – UTSA head coach Steve Henson on Nick Allen
- RICE 89, FIU 78: Sophomore Marcus Evans (Chesapeake, Va.) scored 27 points, with four 3-pointers, to lead the Owls to an 89-78 victory over host FIU. Redshirt junior Egor Koulechov (Volgograd, Russia) tossed in 20 points and seven boards. Rice has won three in a row and scored more than 80 points in 16 games this season to tie a program record set in 1970-71. Senior G Eric Nottage (Miami, Fla.) scored 14 of his team-high 18 points in the second half for the Panthers.
C-USA UPCOMING SCHEDULE
(All times Central)
Sat., February 11
Louisiana Tech at UTSA (CUSA.tv) - 3:00p
Marshall at WKU (FCS) - 5:00p
Charlotte at Middle Tennessee (Campus Insiders) - 5:00p
North Texas at FIU (CUSA.tv) - 6:00p
Rice at Florida Atlantic (CUSA.tv) - 6:00p
Old Dominion at UAB (ASN) - 7:00p
Southern Miss at UTEP (CUSA.tv) - 8:00p
Conference games in BOLD.
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2016-17 C-USA Men's Basketball Fact Book
More information on your favorite team can also be found on the school web sites:
CHARLOTTE | FIU | FLORIDA ATLANTIC | LOUISIANA TECH | MARSHALL | MIDDLE TENNESSEE
NORTH TEXAS | OLD DOMINION | RICE | SOUTHERN MISS | UAB | UTEP | UTSA | WKU