Another week off American hoops is in the books and here's the wrap.
Central Florida 66 Tulsa 77: This game was a lot closer than the score indicated, but none the less Tulsa gets their 6th league win. Central Florida lead for most of the 2nd half until a huge run for Tulsa to close out the game. UCF lost the game in that span. They went 7 minutes without a basket. They finally ended that drought with a BJ Taylor 3 with just 58 seconds left. The last 8 minutes was a 25-11 run if favor of the Golden Hurricane.
What a job Frank Haith has done with this extremely young Tulsa team. Golden Hurricane were projected 9th in the AAC Coaches poll, but sit alone in 3rd at 6-2. It was one of the few seniors on this team that lead the scoring for Tulsa in Pat Birt. Birt put up 19 points including 3 three pointers.
Tulsa plays the two best teams in the American next week in Cincinnati and SMU and they are both at home. Two upset wins and that COULD get Tulsa on the bubble conversation which nobody was expecting this year. It's a tall task, but it is possible with both games being at home.
For Central Florida on the other hand, any chance they had at an at large bid is probably gone. They sit at 14-7 and 5-4 in the AAC which is still better than expected, but the turnover bug has killed them. They had 16 turnovers yesterday compared to Tulsa's 10. Also BJ Taylor scored 23 but he needs some help, he can't do it all. Central Florida also has a huge stretch with Memphis, Houston and Cincinnati upcoming.
East Carolina 50 Memphis 57: This game was very ugly and that's usually how East Carolina wins. Memphis could not afford a bad loss at home and expect to still make the NCAA Tournament. Both Dedric and KJ Lawson both struggled early as ECU took a 22-19 lead into the break, but Jimario Rivers got Memphis out to a big lead in the 2nd half. The Tigers could not pull away, but it was good enough for a W. Rivers led Memphis with 15 points.
Memphis just needs to keep winning. Tubby Smith's team is starting to creep into the "First Four Out" category in most bracket projections. Honestly, Memphis should win their next 6 games and if they happen to lose one then it will be a bad loss.
They can get away with a bad offensive performance against a team like ECU, but they can't struggle like this down the stretch. Ecspecially, the Preseason Player of the Year Dedric Lawson who scored just 8 points. KJ Lawson had a double-double with 12 points and 19; yes 19 rebounds.
As for ECU, they are getting better. Interim coach Michael Perry has this team showing some fight. They lost on the road to UConn and Memphis in two highly competed contest and pulled off an upset win over Tulsa. Coach Perry is doing a pretty good job considering how much this team lacks offensive talent.
Tulane 68 UConn 78: The Green Wave played their best game of the year through the first 35 minutes but it came crashing down in the final 5 minutes of the game. Kenton Facey and Amida Brimah had 20 & 18 respectfully as UConn escaped an upset on Saturday. The difference was UConn's defense down the final stretch as Tulane crumbled late. Believe it or not, Tulane led this game 58-55. Huskies also finished +14 on the boards.
At this point for UConn it's all about improving their seeding for the conference tournament. UConn is always dangerous in March and plus they will have home court advantage for the AAC Tournament. The Huskies are 10-11, but they need to build momentum for the tournament and get a first round bye. Currently, they would be the #7 seed and play in the first round with a rematch against #10 Tulane.
For the most part it seemed like it would be Mike Dunleavy's biggest win of the year. You can't knock Tulane for effort. They are 4-17 on the year and had every reason not show up, but they just could not hit a shot in the closing minutes. Ryan Smith held his own with his baby hook shot, but had just one rebound before fouling out. You can't allow a team to go on a 17-0 second half run and expect to win, no matter how hot Tulane started the game.
Houston 79 Temple 66: Big bounce back win for Houston. The Coogs got back on track to keep their NCAA hopes alive. Rob Gray Jr had 28 points and was perfect from the free throw line. If the season ended right now he would have my vote for conference player of the year. Temple is a good defensive team but they had no answer last night. Enechionyia kept Temple within fighting distance for the Owls. He had struggled his last couple of games, but go back on track with 16 points.
This Cougar has one of the best guard play in the conference and they showed it last night with Gray and Dotson combining for 48 points. Houston is 15-7 and needs some big wins to make the big dance. They play UCF, Tulane, & Tulsa in their next three and need wins in all off them.
For Temple, this continues to be the most confusing team in the nation . This team has beaten two top 15 teams currently in Florida State and West Virginia and it looked like they would make the tournament when conference play started, but they are at 2-7 in the AAC and have zero chance of making the big dance.
South Florida 53 Cincinnati 94: It was all Bearcats from the start to finish. I thought Cincinnati may have a let down game after the big Crosstown Shootout victory, but they didn't. It never crossed my mind that would lose, but I thought it would be around 10-15 points and boy was I wrong. The Bearcats forced 24 turnovers and won their 12th straight game.
Cincinnati will have Tulsa coming up Wednesday. The Bearcats at this point should be counting the days until they face SMU in Dallas. This is a top 15 basketball team.
For South Florida this one was over before it started with their leading scorer Geno Thorpe out with an injury. USF takes on Memphis and Temple next, but I think they will get their first win over ECU in a couple of weeks. Better days ahead for Bull basketball fans.
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