C-USA Tournament pairings set
With the win over Rice on Saturday, Tulsa finished in the No. 5 spot in Conference USA and earned a first-round bye in the C-USA Men's Basketball Championship.
Regular season champion Memphis will be the No. 1 seed at the 2013 C-USA Tournament, March 13-16 at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Okla. The Tigers, C-USA regular season champions for the sixth time in eight years, enter the conference tournament as the No.1 seed, owning an overall record of 27-4 and a 16-0 mark in C-USA. That marks the fourth time in seven seasons that Memphis has finished undefeated in league play.
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As the top seed, Memphis (21-2 in its last 23 C-USA Tournament games) will have a first-round bye. Other teams receiving first-round byes include No. 2 Southern Miss, No. 3 UTEP, No. 4 East Carolina and No. 5 Tulsa. With UCF being ineligible for postseason play, five teams received opening round byes.
Wednesday's three first-round match-ups feature: No. 7 UAB vs. No. 10 SMU at 3:30 p.m. CDT, No. 6 Houston vs. No. 11 Rice at 6 p.m. CDT and No. 8 Tulane vs. No. 9 Marshall at 8:30 p.m. CDT.
In Thursday's quarterfinal round, second-seeded Southern Miss will take on the winner of the UAB-SMU game at 12 p.m. and No. 3 UTEP will face the winner of the Houston-Rice match-up beginning at 2:30 p.m. Top seed Memphis will battle either Tulane or Marshall at 6 p.m., while No. 4 East Carolina will close out Thursday night against Tulsa at 8:30 p.m. All four quarterfinal games will be televised by CBS Sports Network.
All games will be played at the BOK Center in downtown Tulsa, site of the 2010 C-USA Championship, won by Houston.
The Friday semifinal games will be shown on CBS Sports Network at 3 and 5:30 (CDT). CBS will broadcast the championship game on Saturday, beginning at 10:35 a.m. (CDT).
2013 Conference USA Championship Schedule
BOK Center, Tulsa, Okla.
Wednesday, March 13
(7) UAB vs. (10) SMU (C-USADN) 3:30p
(6) Houston vs. (11) Rice (C-USADN) 6:00p
(8) Tulane vs. (9) Marshall (C-USADN) 8:30p
Thursday, March 14
(2) Southern Miss vs. UAB/SMU (CBS Sports Network) 12:00p
(3) UTEP vs. HOU/RICE (CBS Sports Network) 2:30p
(1) Memphis vs. TLN/MAR (CBS Sports Network) 6:00p
(4) East Carolina vs. (5) Tulsa (CBS Sports Network) 8:30p
Friday, March 15
Semifinal # 1 (CBS Sports Network) 3:00p
Semifinal # 2 (CBS Sports Network) 5:30p
Saturday, March 16
Championship Game (CBS) 10:35a