News Nuggets, 02.24.05
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Compiled from staff reports
and electronic dispatches
C-USA roundup: Charlotte gains share of first place
PREVIOUS NUGGETS |
02.23.05: No.
21 Charlotte hosts Memphis in pivotal league matchup ...
Diener, DePaul prevail over South Florida ... Conference USA
standings, scores, schedule & TV ...
More... |
02.22.05: State
turns defense over to former Syracuse assistant ... Mountain
West adopts instant replay for 2005 ... Louisville,
Charlotte advance in AP hoops poll ...
More... |
02.21.05: Fourth-and-10
for legislator's anti-BCS bill ... C- USA basketball
standings, scores, schedule & TV ...
More... |
02.20.05: C-USA
roundup: Ailing Bearcats fight off UAB ... C-USA basketball
standings, scores, schedule & TV ...
More... |
02.19.05: South
Carolina fined by SEC for fans rushing court ... Shocker
boosts Hokies hoops to new pinnacle ... C-USA basketball
standings, scores, schedule & TV ...
More... |
02.18.05: Cards
escape Milwaukee with win after Marquette collapse ...
Former juco coach charged with conning Louisville ... C-USA
basketball standings, scores, schedule & TV ...
More... |
02.17.05: No.
23 Charlotte out- grinds Diener-led DePaul ... No. 24
Cincinnati takes out anxiety on USM ... Houston cruises past
turnover-prone Bulls ...
More... |
02.16.05: UAB
looks to cure losing streak at ECU's expense ... Tonight's
final USM-Cincy clash set for ESPN2 ... Conference and team
power indexes ... ACC to try instant replay next football
season ...
More... |
02.15.05: ECU
sprint phenom lands another national honor ... AP basketball
poll: Charlotte cracks Top 25 ... Tulane still reigns over
Baseball America poll ... ECU's next foe, Clemson, 21st in
Collegiate Baseball poll ...
More... |
02.14.05: C-USA
basketball standings, scores, schedule & TV ... Billikens'
star guard leaves team indefinitely ...
More... |
02.13.05: C-USA
roundup: The 'other Diener' helps nail Cincy ... Coach
suspended over incident with officials ...
More... |
02.12.05: Embarrassed
Cards in recovery mode as USF arrives ... Bearcats face
must-win matchup at DePaul ...
More... |
02.11.05: $23
million baseball palace in the works at LSU ... Cincinnati
crushes city rival's bid for another upset ...
More... |
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CHARLOTTE With his team clinging to
the lead with 45 seconds to go, Charlotte's do-it-all player had a rare
turnover. Mortified, Eddie Basden vowed to make up for it.
He did, grabbing a huge offensive
rebound that drew a foul and sent him to the line with 1.8 seconds to play.
Basden made two free throws to help No.
21 Charlotte pull out an 80-77 victory over Memphis on Wednesday night.
``I had just committed a turnover not
too long ago,'' Basden said. ``I knew I had to make up for it one way or
another. I am always going to fight, and I went after that ball.''
His late-game heroics moved the 49ers
(20-4, 11-2 Conference USA) into a tie with Louisville for first place with
the victory their sixth straight.
``This puts us in a wonderful
position,'' Charlotte coach Bobby Lutz said. ``It puts us right where we
want to be.''
Memphis (16-11, 9-4) dropped two games
behind the leaders.
In other C-USA games,
East Carolina defeated Southern Mississippi 77-66,
Texas Christian beat Tulane 77-63 and UAB topped Saint Louis 64-62.
Combined with Tulane's loss, ECU's win
a day after its coach, Bill Herrion, was notified by school officials he
will be
replaced at the end of the season
moved the Pirates past the Green Wave into
12th place in the 14-team league and
kept them solidly in the mix for one of the dozen spots in the conference
tournament Mar. 9-12 in Memphis.
In the Charlotte-Memphis showdown,
Basden was a formidable force for the 49ers both offensively and
defensively.
Basden, who has earned conference
player of the week honors in two of the past three weeks, was 7-of-13 from
the field and 10-of-12 from the free throw line. He had seven rebounds and
three steals, the latter breaking Charlotte's season record of 77, set by
Delano Johnson in 1990-91.
``I wouldn't trade (Eddie) for anybody
in the country,'' Lutz said. ``He has always been our hardest worker, he has
unbelievable confidence and great energy. I think he is terrific.''
So did Memphis coach John Calipari, who
credited Basden with beating the Tigers.
``They came up with every loose ball,''
Calipari said. ``Every loose ball down the stretch they grabbed them, and
Eddie Basden got most of them. That's a man right there.''
Curtis Withers finished with 20 points
for Charlotte, while Brendan Plavich scored 12 all on 3-pointers and
Baldwin added 10.
Tough break in practice ends Diener's season
MILWAUKEE Travis Diener is thinking
about the NBA sooner than he expected.
Marquette's star point guard will miss
the rest of his senior season after breaking two bones in his left hand at
practice Tuesday and undergoing surgery that will sideline him up to six
weeks.
Diener was hurt in a non-contact drill
at the beginning of practice, leaving him 83 points shy of surpassing George
Thompson as Marquette's all-time leading scorer, and 15 assists shy of
becoming Conference USA's all-time leader.
Diener, a Cousy Award finalist as the
nation's top point guard, will continue to attend practices and games during
his recovery as he focuses on the NBA draft in June. He leads Conference USA
with averages of 19.7 points and seven assists, and is the only player in
the country to lead a major conference in both categories.
``We are going to close a chapter on
what has been an outstanding career, but we're nowhere near closing the book
on what will continue to be an outstanding career,'' Marquette coach Tom
Crean said Wednesday.
Diener said he was disappointed he
can't be on the floor to help the Golden Eagles (18-8) make a last-gasp push
to make the NCAA tournament. Crean said he would involve Diener in the
team's game-planning and preparation.
``It's obviously ending too soon,
sooner than I wanted,'' Diener said. ``My goal now is set to help this team
win some more games and get into the (NCAA) tournament. Our goals are still
the same, with or without me. They're going to play their hearts out.''
Diener said he didn't think he was
seriously injured at first because the pain didn't hit him until 20 minutes
later. He said he is still coming to terms with his college career being cut
short.
``Tomorrow night (at Cincinnati) when I
see the guys come out and play and I'm sitting there watching, knowing that
I can't ever play for Marquette again, it might hit me then. I'm sure it's
going to hit me on Senior Day when I walk out in street clothes,'' he said.
Diener missed three games last month
with a foot injury. Since his return, he averaged 18 points and eight
assists in leading the Golden Eagles to three wins and a near-upset of
then-No. 12 Louisville.
Diener, who helped Marquette reach the
Final Four during Dwyane Wade's last season two years ago, finishes his
college career with 1,691 points, just shy of the 1,773 Thompson scored from
1967-69. Diener is one of seven players in school history to score 1,000
points and accumulate 400 assists. Marquette went 90-33 during his 3 1/2
seasons.
Diener is part of a family with deep
basketball roots. He played for his uncle, Dick, at Goodrich High School in
Fond du Lac. He has two sisters who play college ball, one at Lewis (Ill.)
University and one at Saint Louis.
And he had a spirited competition with
his cousin Drake, a senior at DePaul, against whom he went 6-2 during his
time at Marquette. He was 4-0 against Drake's brother, Drew, who attended
Saint Louis.
Diener is a candidate for several
postseason honors, and Crean said Diener deserved to be named an
All-American. Athletic director Bill Cords said Diener was already an
All-American in his eyes.
``Travis Diener is what college
basketball is all about,'' Cords said, ``He's what Marquette University is
all about, and as a competitor and a team player, a student-athlete and a
person, he's an All-American in every sense of the word.
``And what he's brought to this program
and what he will leave with this program is incredible.''
C-USA standings, scores, schedule & TV
STANDINGS (through
Wednesday's games):
TEAM CONF PCT ALL
PCT Louisville 11 2
.846 23 4 .852
Charlotte 11 2
.846 20 4 .833
DePaul
9 4 .692 17 7 .708
Memphis
9 4 .692 16 11 .593
Cincinnati 8 4
.667 20 6 .769
Houston
8 5 .615 17 10 .630
UAB
7 6 .538 17 9 .654
Texas Christian 7 6 .538
17 10 .630
Marquette
6 7 .462 18 8 .692
Saint Louis 4 9
.308 7 19 .269
South Florida 4 10 .286
11 14 .440
East Carolina 4 10 .286
9 17 .346
Tulane
3 10 .231 9 15 .375
Southern Miss 1 13 .071
10 16 .385
WEDNESDAY'S SCORES:
East Carolina 77, Southern Miss 66
Charlotte 80, Memphis 77
Texas Christian 77, Tulane 63
UAB 64, Saint Louis 62
GAMES SCHEDULED FOR
THURSDAY, FEB. 24:
Marquette at Cincinnati 9 PM
(ESPN2)
GAMES SCHEDULED FOR
SATURDAY, FEB. 26:
Saint Louis at DePaul 1 PM
(ESPN+)
Cincinnati at Texas Christian 3 PM (ESPN+)
Southern Miss at Charlotte 3 PM
Houston at East Carolina 7 PM
Tulane at UAB 8:30 PM
Louisville at Memphis 9 PM (ESPN)
Compiled from
Conference USA and wire reports.
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News Nuggets are
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