Rush The Court

Stephen Coulter is the RTC correspondent for Conference USA.

A Look Back

• So. Miss Clobbers No. 22 UCF: After a 14-0 start, Central Florida has now lost back-to-back games and fell out of the national rankings after a 86-69 loss to Southern Mississippi. For the Golden Eagles, it was the program’s first win over a ranked opponent since 2004 and the first time at home since 1986. In the second half, USM outscored UCF 50-34 behind a strong performance from R.L. Horton, who scored 18 points and grabbed six rebounds.
• Houston Nips SMU 70-68: Only days after tripping up preseason favorite Memphis, SMU fell short of Houston on the road. Adam Brown led the Cougars with 22 points. After the win, Houston has now taken four of its last five. Alandise Harris finished with a double-double, dropping 19 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Darian Thibodeaux scored 17 points. There were nine lead changes the final 12 minutes.
• Memphis, UTEP and Tulsa Cruise: Saturday brought in a slew of blowout victories for Memphis, UTEP and Tulsa. The Tigers followed up an upsetting road defeat to SMU with a big win at home over surging Marshall. The Herd went into the game winning nine of their last eleven and walked away with a 77-61 spanking. Meanwhile, UTEP handled Rice 66-43 at home, notching their 12th straight home victory. Tulsa knocked off UAB 78-62, beating the Blazers 43-34 in the second half.
• Stone Breaks Conference Assist Record: UTEP senior PG Julyan Stone broke the Conference USA assist record last Saturday after he recorded five assists in UTEP’s win over Rice. Stone has 633 assists for his career, passing USF’s Reggie Kohn as the career assist leader in the conference. Stone finished with ten rebounds and four points in the game.
• Shawn Williams Transferring To SMU: Dallas-native and one-time Texas Longhorn Shawn Williams announced last week that he was transferring to SMU. On January 11, Williams enrolled in classes, but will have to sit out until next fall. He will have three years of eligibility remaining when he returns. Williams left the Longhorns in November, playing in eight games before suffering an ankle injury. He didn’t play in any games this season.
• Memphis Fills in Holes With New Faces: Don’t look now, but Memphis seems to have found some stability after weeks of upheaval that included injuries, transfers and inconsistent play on the court. Senior forward Will Coleman finished with a double-double in Saturday’s win over Marshall. Coleman scored 19 points while grabbing 11 rebounds. In addition to Coleman’s emergence, the Tigers bench torched Marshall, scoring 30 of the team’s 77 points. Tarik Black notched 12 points and nine rebounds, while junior transfer Charles Carmouche added 15 points.
• East Carolina Cruising At Home. The Pirates are 7-1 at home this season following their 76-67 win over Tulane last Saturday. Jontae Sherrod had a huge day for ECU, scoring 24 points. For the Green Wave, Kendall Timmons barely reached 10 points, however he did finish in double digits for the 15th consecutive game.

Power Rankings

1. UTEP (15-4, 3-1) – It’s hard to pick a top dog in the conference with team’s losing all around the conference. However, UTEP is the conference’s first 15-win club and have won 12 of their last 14. In addition, their only loss is a triple overtime defeat at UAB. Also, senior guard Randy Culpepper, who was just named conference player of the week once again, is averaging more than 19 points a game.
2. Southern Miss (14-3, 3-1) – The Golden Eagles get another opportunity to prove itself this week when they host Memphis at the Reed Green Coliseum. USM prides itself on crashing the glass, averaging 40.5 team rebounds a game, which is 24th in the nation. A blowout loss to Marshall and an overtime win over Rice keeps them out of the No. 1 spot for now.
3. Memphis (13-4, 2-1) – After a bad road loss to SMU, the Tigers rebounded with a big win over Marshall. Their next three conference games are at USM, at UAB and at home against Central Florida. Combined record of those opponents: 43-9.
4. Central Florida (14-2, 1-2) – Two bad losses drop UCF from the top spot. Right now, it needs to regain control of the season with a pair of easy home games this week against ECU and Rice. Marcus Jordan and Keith Clanton give this team stability on both sides of the court.
5. UAB (11-4, 1-1) – Three games this week present quite the challenge for the Blazers, who are coming off a bad loss at Tulsa. UAB needs to shore up its defense if it wants to be successful; the Blazers have given up 75 or more points in the last three games.
6. Tulane (12-5, 2-2). After winning six in a row, Tulane struggled last week losing a pair of games. They have a mid-week bye and then play Tulsa at home on Saturday. Maybe the time off will help.
7. Marshall (12-5, 1-2). Freshman DeAndre Kane is making a blantant case for Freshman of the Year after a dynamic week for the Herd last week. Kane is currently second in the team in scoring and first in assists. Everybody else needs to step up in order for Marshall to hit the 20-win mark.
8. Houston (10-6, 2-1). A pair of close wins has kept Houston in good position early in conference play. The team is still, but freshman Alandise Harris is developing into a strong player for the Cougars. Harris had 33 points in the two wins last week.
9. Tulsa (9-8, 2-1) – Although they fell in out of conference play to Arizona State, the Golden Hurricane made a statement last Saturday beating UAB handily at home. Senior Justin Hurtt will be a conference first teamer without a doubt.
10. Southern Methodist (10-7, 1-2) – The program scored an epic-sized win when they topped Memphis, however, the Mustangs came up short at home against Houston and now must take on UAB and UM this week. Papa Dia is averaging 17.6 points and 8.8 rebounds.
11. East Carolina (9-7, 1-1) – Senior Jontae Sherrod has been a consistent scorer for the Pirates this season, hitting a season-high mark in last week’s win over Tulane when he finished with 24 points.
12. Rice (8-10, 0-4) – The Owls offense did not show up against UTEP and the team paid the price. Ironically enough, the worst loss of the season followed the best loss of the season—an overtime defeat at the hands of a hot Southern Miss team. Sophomore Arsalan Kazemi has been carrying this team on his back the last month.

A Look Ahead

• Marshall duels with WVU in Chesapeake Energy Classic. The Thundering Herd will be heading up to Charleston, W.V., on Wednesday night to take on the West Virginia Mountaineers in the Chesapeake Energy Classic. The in-state rivals both need a win to regain momentum at this crucial part of the season.
• Memphis travels to USM for Matchup of Conference Heavyweights. The current No. 2 and No. 3 teams in the power rankings take the same court this week when Memphis travels to Southern Miss on Wednesday night. Both teams have one loss in C-USA play, however the Golden Eagles have the better conference record at 3-1. Gary Flowers versus Will Coleman makes for an intriguing storyline.
• Struggling UCF Takes On Bottom-Dwellers. The Knights of Central Florida are 1-2 in conference and 13-0 in out of conference play. They will have an attempt to boost that conference record when they take on East Carolina and Rice this week.  The Pirates and the Owls have struggled this season, especially on the road, and are two of just three teams in the conference that have failed to reach the ten win mark.