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Conference USA Basketball 2022: January 24 Roundup

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Conference USA Basketball nearing the halfway point of league play. What have we learned so far and where does each team stack up against the rest?

Team NET  KenPom Record
Charlotte 162 209 10-7 (3-2)
FAU 136 147 11-8 (4-2)
FIU 236 245 12-7 (2-4)
LA Tech 85 85 15-4 (6-1)
Marshall 246 222 7-12 (0-6)
MTSU 118 141 12-6 (3-2)
North Texas 55 67 13-4 (6-1)
Old Dominion 221 203 7-11 (2-3)
Rice 164 180 11-7 (4-3)
Southern Miss 325 317 6-12 (1-4)
UAB 37 41 16-4 (6-1)
UTEP 185 182 11-8 (4-3)
UTSA 339 326 7-13 (0-7)
WKU 139 121 10-9 (2-4)
Kenpom rankings and standings as of 1/23/2022

Key Storylines

Wild, Wild West

The race for the top of the West Division got much more interesting this weekend when UAB went into Ruston and walked away with a relatively comfortable road win over Louisiana Tech. That leaves UAB, Louisiana Tech and North Texas tied atop the West with 6-1 conference records. Rice and UTEP, both 4-3, remain within striking distance.

Owls on the move

Florida Atlantic has won three in a row, completing a perfect three-game homestand against Charlotte, WKU and Marshall. The Owls began conference play 1-2 and fell near the bottom of the standings. Now they sit alone in first place atop the division. Their namesake counterparts, Rice, posted an emphatic win of their own over the weekend, finishing their game against Old Dominion on a 16-0 run.

Toppers in a tailspin?

Western Kentucky was expected to be among the best teams in Conference USA entering the season. They didn’t receive any first-place votes, but they were a clear No. 3 choice in the conference’s preseason poll. There wasn’t reason to panic after a narrow loss to Louisiana Tech on the road to start conference play, but their recent three-game has to at least raise some concern. They host UAB and Middle Tennessee next week. Getting a split would, at the very least, ease some anxiety.

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Rice Women’s Basketball: Rally falls short vs MTSU in CUSA Tournament finale

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Rice women’s basketball lost a heartbreaker in the final seconds to Middle Tennesee in 2021 Conference USA Tournament Championship Game.

Middle Tennessee was picked to win Conference USA in the preseason polls. Rice women’s basketball were the defending champs and finished with the best record in the regular season. It was only fitting that these were the two teams pitted against each other in the conference championship game on Saturday night.

A rematch of the 2019 Championship Game between these two teams, the 2021 edition shared an eerie resemblance early on. Middle Tennessee took a modest 32-26 lead into halftime, never getting too far ahead, but doing enough to keep Rice off balance. Courtney Witson’s five three-pointers in the first half were crucial to Middle Tennessee’s early success.

Both teams went on runs in the third quarter, with Rice clawing ever so slightly closer. In the fourth quarter, Nancy Mulkey got hot. She scored the first six points in the final frame, giving Rice the lead for the first time since they led 6-5 in the first quarter.

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Then came a heart-stopping finale. Middle Tennessee went on an 11-0 run to go up by 10. Rice responded with a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to three. Trailing by two, Rice had the ball with a chance to force overtime, but a pass to Mulkey in the paint was knocked away leaving Rice with little more than a full-court hail mary on the ensuing possession that fell short.

Mulkey finished with 21 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks. Katelyn Crosthwait and Jasmine Smith both had 13 points, with Smith tallying a double-double with 10 rebounds.

After the game, head coach Tina Langley took the blame for the heartbreaking result: “In the end, I thought I could have made some better decisions for our team,” she said. “I thought they fought their tails off. Really this is on me.”

With the win, Middle Tennesee clinches an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament. Rice women’s basketball will now await their postseason fate, announced on Selection Monday. By RPI, the Owls stand a decent chance to earn an at-large berth, but the NET Rankings have them as a fringe team, at best. Given the weighting toward NET, the Owls’ season could very well be done.

No matter what happens on Monday, it was another remarkable run for this team.

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Rice Basketball 2021: Owls close strong, advance past Southern Miss

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Rice basketball picked up its first Conference USA Tournament win under head coach Scott Pera, beating Southern Miss in a defensive struggle.

The beginnings of the only game of the preliminary round of the Conference USA Tournament didn’t look like most of the other games Rice basketball has played this season. The Owls made just one three-point attempt in the first half and newly minted C-USA Newcomer of the Year Travis Evee had no points.

Yet Rice still led.

“I know we shoot a lot of three,” head coach Scott Pera remarked following the win, “but we gotta get past that. We gotta defend every night for 40 minutes, because we’re not always going to shoot it great.”

Winning when the shots don’t fall has been a struggle for this team. So to see Rice start uncharacteristically cold, but take a 27-20 edge at the break was noteworthy. Southern Miss shot 32 percent from the field in the first half, with only 10 of their 20 points coming from outside the paint.

The Golden Eagles would adjust and punch back, reclaiming the lead early on in the second half and holding in for more than 10 minutes. But when Ege Havsa hit a crucial three to give Rice the lead with 4:28 to go, the Owls never looked back.

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Rice would close the game on a 16-3 run. The shots started to fall, but it was the same defense that gave Southern Miss fits early that put the game away. In Pera’s own estimation, the Owls “were locked in defensively from the very first possession to the final buzzer.” And it showed.

Southern Miss did not record a field goal in the final six minutes of regulation, something Pera couldn’t recall happening anytime recently in the hundreds of games he’s coached. When that buzzer did sound, Pera and the Owls surpassed an important milestone. The win marked the first C-USA conference tournament of Pera’s tenure, something he called “another barrier we needed to knock down.”

Rice basketball has the chance to turn this small step into a bigger leap on Wednesday night against Marshall. The Owls and Thundering Herd had been previously scheduled to meet this season, but the games were canceled due to COVID-19 issues among the Owls’ program. Rice will be the underdog, but they won’t be deterred.

“It’s a big challenge for us,” Pera said. “But it’s March. We’re still playing and we’re happy and we’re excited.” And, as if to quell any doubts about the team’s ability to rise up once again, Pera was clear. “We’re going to have our work cut out for us,” he said. “We’re going to prepare. Our kids are going to be ready. And we’re going to go out there and let it fly. I know that.”

Rice basketball is scheduled to play Marshall at 6:00 p.m. tomorrow on ESPN+.

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2021 Conference USA Basketball Tournament: Men’s and Women’s Previews

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The 2021 Conference USA Basketball Tournament tips off in Frisco, TX on Monday. Here’s a preview of the action.

Conference USA Basketball – Men’s Tournament

The Favorite: Western Kentucky

The No. 1 seed for a reason, Western Kentucky is the clear favorite to cut down the nets. Charles Bassey will be the best player on the court whenever the Tops play and the supporting cast is equally as impressive and experienced.

The Contender: Louisiana Tech

Although they received less fanfare than Western Kentucky along the way, Louisiana Tech won a divisional title as well. Kenneth Lofton and Isaiah Crawford, both of whom somehow were only named to the All-Conference Third Team and not higher, are a formidable tandom capable of taking down anyone — even WKU.

The Sleeper: North Texas

One of the best defensive teams in the conference, North Texas can win ugly. When they’re in a rhythm and Javion Hamlet is making his shots, they’re a tough out. If anyone’s making out of the “first round”, the Mean Green might have a decent shot.

Conference USA Basketball – Women’s Tournament

The Favorite: Rice

Rice has lost four conference games in their last three seasons. They’ve proven themselves to be mortal, but it’s hard to pick anyone to beat them outright. Led by Nancy Mulkey and a deep bench, the Owls’ defense has led them to three consecutive regular-season conference titles. They enter 2021 as the defending tournament champions after last season’s event was halted after the first round.

The Contender: Middle Tennessee

Despite the run of success from Rice, Middle Tennessee was picked to win the conference in the preseason polls. The two teams never met in the regular season. Could they meet in the Tournament? Led by 26.8 points per game from Anastasia Hayes, the Blue Raiders can run up the score quickly.

The Sleeper: Marshall

Marshall was far from the most consistent team this season, but they earned a unique distinction in the final weeks of the regular season. They won games against Rice and Middle Tennessee, something no other team in Conference USA can claim. Sometimes tournaments are all about getting hot at the right time. If Marshall can beat those two teams, they’ve got the ammo to beat just about anyone else.

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Conference USA Basketball: Where each team stands entering the home stretch

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Conference USA basketball is in the home stretch. Where does every team stand heading into the final weekends of league play?

There are four* weekends left of Conference USA basketball before the start of the Conference USA Basketball Tournament. Well, there are three scheduled weekends before a catch-all makeup weekend to open March. UAB leads the West. WKU leads the East. How do the rest of the teams stack up? Are there any teams that could emerge from the pack over the course of the next month?

West

Leading: UAB

UAB is the clear front runner in all of Conference USA. The Blazers have utilized a league-leading defense that allows 56.9 points per game. They also boast one of the most fundamentally sound rosters on both ends of the court. UAB leads C-USA in turnover margin, forcing 5.8 more turnovers from their opponents while committing only 10.2 turnovers per game, the best mark in the conference.

In the Hunt: North Texas, Louisiana Tech

North Texas and Louisiana Tech are the two teams most ready to challenge UAB in the West. They split their series this past weekend, playing two tight games in Denton. Both play great defense and can grind out games when shots aren’t falling. The Mean Green tend to shoot a bit better thanks in large part to the contributions of Javion Hamlet, but the Bulldogs’ league-leading rebound totals offer a strong counter.

Treading water: Rice, UTSA

Rice was hot early. UTSA has been on fire of late. When fully healthy and playing at their best, these are two teams that could make runs in the last few weekends.

The Owls’ have C-USA’s top two three point shooters; Quincy Olivari (45.6 percent) and Travis Evee (42.6) are machines from deep. UTSA has top scorer Jhivvan Jackson. For both squads, consistency is the key ingredient they’ll need to find if they want to be relevant come conference tournament time.

On Alert: UTEP, Southern Miss

Southern Miss has lost six in a row. UTEP has lost seven of their last nine. These two squads split their series in Hattiesburg in early January and could be playing to avoid the bottom spot in the West. Neither team shoots particularly well or plays consistent defense.

There’s talent on both rosters and UTEP’s win over Arizona State is one of the most impressive non-conference victories by any Conference USA team. They just haven’t been able to deliver that quality of performance on a regular basis.

East

Leading: WKU

The East is much closer than the West, but the Hilltoppers still deserve the benefit of the doubt at this point in the season. They’ve got a weekend sweep of Marshall under their belts and a split with Charlotte. Charles Bassey has been a difference maker and leads the conference in rebounding by a significant margin (12.2 per game compared to runner-up Max Fielder of Rice who has 9.2 per game).

In the Hunt: Old Dominion, Charlotte, Marshall

Marshall is Kenpom‘s highest-ranked C-USA squad and might have been in the driver’s seat in the East had they done as much as split with Western Kentucky. Nevertheless, Taevion Kinsey and jarrod West are one of the best tandems in the league and will pose problems for opponents down the stretch.

Old Dominion and Charlotte are neck-and-neck with the Herd in the standings. The Monarchs probably have a subtle edge after the 49ers were swept for the first time this past weekend by Middle Tennessee. That said, picking between ODU’s Malik Curry and Charlotte’s Jahmir Young would seem to be an impossible task.

Treading Water: Florida Atlantic

Florida Atlantic has played the fewest league games of any of the men’s teams (six), so it’s hard to get a good read on where they fit in the pecking order. Their remaining schedule includes games against UTSA, UTEP and Southern Miss from the West, keeping them very much in the conversation in the East. They lead all teams in scoring, averaging 80.7 points per game.

On Alert: Middle Tennessee, FIU

Middle Tennessee picked up two thirds of it’s conference wins this past weekend. They count, but before last Saturday the Blue Raiders were 1-7 in league play, with the lone with coming over fellow cellar-dweller FIU.

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