News Nuggets, 03.18.05
NOTES FROM ECU AND BEYOND...
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Compiled from staff reports
and electronic dispatches
UAB smothers 6th-seeded LSU in
first-round shocker
PREVIOUS NUGGETS |
03.17.05: Timeline
on ECU hoops coach Ricky Stokes ... Nothing heals like an
NIT win for Tigers' Washington ... Horned Frogs halt
RedHawks' home streak ... Davidson rips VCU for first-ever
NIT victory ...
More... |
03.16.05: It's
not the Big Dance, but it's a win for DePaul ... NCAA
preview: UAB vs. LSU ... NCAA preview: Cincinnati vs. Iowa
... CORRECTED Final AP college basketball poll ...
More... |
03.15.05: Handicapped
Marquette makes quit exit from NIT ... New arena a factor in
Virginia's firing of Gillen ... Heart attack hospitalizes
Tech football coach ... Final 2004-05 college basketball
poll ...
More... |
03.14.05: 12
current, future C- USA teams earn NCAA or NIT bids ...
Finney dismissed by Tulane ...
More... |
03.13.05: Missed
free throws cost Memphis league title ... Marquette to host
Western Michigan in NIT ... Pac-10 jumps on instant replay
bandwagon ...
More... |
03.12.05: Cards
stand between Memphis and NCAA bid ... Pirates' head trainer
wins statewide award ... N.C. college baseball coach reaches
milestone ...
More... |
03.11.05: Upsets
spawn unexpected C-USA semifinal pairings ... Updated
Conference USA Tournament brackets ... Fla. Intl. baseball
coach gets win No. 1000 ...
More... |
03.10.05: ECU
boosters anoint new leaders ... Tournament shocker: USF
ambushes Houston ... Basden, Pitino cop league's highest
honors ... Marshall football coach hangs up whistle ...
More... |
03.09.05: 49ers'
Basden, Pirates' Hammonds honored by C-USA ... Gamecocks'
Thompson surrenders to police ... Holiday Bowl doles out
highest all-time payout ...
More... |
03.08.05: ECU
QB derby a focus as spring drills kick off ... Pirate
pitcher recognized for taming Dogs ... 2004-05
All-Conference USA basketball team ... Cards top trio of
C-USA teams in hoops poll ...
More... |
03.07.05: ACC
membership no boon for Miami baseball ... C- USA Tournament
brackets and TV lineup ... C-USA Final Regular Season
Standings ...
More... |
03.06.05: C-USA
Roundup: Cards buck trend on day of upsets ... C-USA Final
Regular Season Standings ...
More... |
03.05.05: Last
chance for Cardinals to earn an outright title ... C-USA
basketball standings, scores, schedule & TV ... SEC football
to use instant replay next season ...
More... |
03.04.05: ECU
sprint sensation speeds to the big bucks ... Cards thump
49ers to nail down top seed ... C-USA basketball standings,
scores, schedule & TV ... Spurrier lays down law on behavior
at USC ...
More... |
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BOISE UAB could be ready for another
deep run in the NCAA tournament thanks to its frenetic defense.
Marvett McDonald had 21 points and hit
five 3-pointers, and 11th-seeded Alabama-Birmingham used its stingy defense
to pull off another upset, knocking off Louisiana State 82-68 Thursday night
in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
UAB (22-10) reached the round of 16
last year after beating Washington and top-seeded Kentucky, and the Blazers
seem to have that same kind of confidence after taking out the Chicago
Regional's sixth seed.
Next up for UAB is third-seeded
Arizona, which had trouble with No. 14 Utah State before pulling away in the
second half for a 66-53 victory.
LSU (20-10) got into the NCAA
tournament with an eight-game winning streak and a one-point overtime loss
to Kentucky in the SEC title game, but the Tigers were no match for UAB's
in-your-face defense.
LSU seemed to press once it fell behind
and didn't find a rhythm offensively until it was too late, ending its first
trip to the NCAA tournament since 2003 in disappointment.
UAB's attacking defense gave the Tigers
fits from the start.
Using a seemingly endless bench all
12 players saw action in the first half the Blazers pressed the length of
the floor and trapped in halfcourt sets, hounding LSU into mistakes and
disrupting the flow of its offense.
The Tigers had 21 turnovers 12 in the
first half that led to 20 points, and had trouble controlling the ball
even when UAB backed off, dribbling the ball off their feet out of bounds
several times.
Bearcats dump Iowa, set sights on Kentucky
INDIANAPOLIS Cincinnati expects
blocked shots and rebounds from Jason Maxiell. But 3-pointers?
The 6-foot-7 senior had 22 points, nine
rebounds, six blocked shots, a pair of steals and the first two 3-point
baskets of his college career Thursday in a 76-64 first-round NCAA
tournament victory over Iowa.
The Bearcats (25-7) advanced to
Saturday's second round of the Austin Regional against Kentucky (26-5),
which won its opener 72-64 over Eastern Kentucky at the RCA Dome.
Maxiell had missed all five 3-point
attempts he had taken in his first 127 games with Cincinnati. But in the
closing minutes against Iowa, with the game already decided, he shot twice
from long range and hit both.
With the 250-pound Maxiell dominating
the inside, Cincinnati showed a decidedly more physical game and threatened
to run away from the Hawkeyes (21-12) almost from the start.
His six blocked shots gave him 89 for
the season, second only to the school-record 107 by Kenyon Martin in 2000.
With two other blocks by Hicks, the Bearcats are one short of the
team-record 223 also set in 2000.
``Our guys did a real good job
defensively,'' Cincinnati coach Bob Huggins said. ``We got the shooters. We
were disciplined enough to stay down most of the time. Eric and Max were
very active, which we need them to be. ... They have to be active and fly
around the ball.''
With Maxiell repeatedly swatting away
shots under the basket and Iowa unable to hit from the outside, the Bearcats
limited the Hawkeyes to just one field goal and three free throws in the
first 11 minutes of the game.
Three-pointers by Nick Williams, James
White and Armein Kirkland, meanwhile, sparked a 21-3 run that put Cincinnati
in control midway through the first half.
Preview: (7) Charlotte vs.
(10) N.C. State
Six straight wins in the NCAA
tournament gets you a national title. A losing skid heading into the
tournament makes you a strong candidate for an early exit.
Charlotte, with the longest losing
streak of any team in the NCAA tournament, takes on North Carolina State in
a first round game on Friday in Worcester, MA (12:15 p.m.)
The 49ers have dropped three in a row,
all on the road, including an 83-69 loss to Memphis in the quarterfinals of
the Conference USA tournament last Thursday.
Charlotte's last win was on Feb. 26,
when it beat Southern Mississippi 81-58. Its last road win came on Feb. 19,
an 86-67 victory over Tulane.
The 49ers also have a two-game losing
streak in NCAA tournament play. They were seeded ninth in 2002 and last
season, losing in the first round both times.
With C-USA player of the year Eddie
Basden and Curtis Withers leading the way, the 49ers have one of the most
versatile frontcourts in the nation.
Basden, a first-team all-Conference USA
selection and the league's defensive player of the year, is fifth in the
nation with 3.2 steals per game. Withers, who averages 18.1 points per game,
has upped that to 24.9 in his last eight contests.
The formidable frontcourt opens up the
perimeter game for guard Brendan Plavich, who's first in the country with
3.9 3-pointers made per game. He's shooting 38 percent from beyond the arc.
N.C. State is making its fourth
straight trip to the NCAA tournament, the second-longest run in team
history. The Wolfpack went to five straight tournaments under Jim Valvano
from 1985-89.
N.C. State was without point guard
Jordan Collins and center Tony Bethel in a 76-69 loss to Duke on Saturday in
the semifinals of the ACC tournament.
Bethel has missed two straight games
with a groin pull. Collins played just two minutes in an 81-65 win over Wake
Forest on March 11. The status of both players for Friday is uncertain.
``Hopefully, we will get one if not
both back,'' Wolfpack coach Herb Sendek said. ``We have to be prepared to
play in any way, shape or form, kind of the way we have had to play this
entire season and in the ACC tournament.''
North Carolina State leads the series
with Charlotte 5-2. The winner advances to face 15th-seeded Central Florida
or No. 2 Connecticut in the second round Sunday.
PROBABLE STARTERS: N.C. State
- F Hodge (17.0 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 4.6 apg), F Brackman (7.3 ppg, 3.5 rpg), F
Evtimov (9.8 ppg, 3.8 rpg), G Bennerman (9.2 ppg, 2.6 rpg), G Atsur (9.3 ppg,
2.5 apg). Charlotte - F Withers (18.1 ppg, 8.3 rpg), F Basden (15.2 ppg, 8.4
rpg, 3.7 apg), C Martin Iti (5.2 ppg, 4.1 rpg), G Plavich (13.7 ppg, 2.8 rpg),
G Baldwin (7.7 ppg, 3.9 apg).
HOW THEY GOT HERE: N.C. State
- At-large berth, ACC. Charlotte - At-large berth, Conference USA.
ALL-TIME TOURNAMENT RECORD: NC
State - 29-19, 20 years. Charlotte - 7-11, 10 years.
Preview: (4) Louisville vs. (13) UL-Lafayette
Rick Pitino's Louisville squad
is on a season-high nine-game win streak and has a roster that reminds him
of some of his most formidable NCAA tournament teams.
Pitino hopes he has the
players to make another deep run in the tournament as the Cardinals get set
to face No. 13 Louisiana-Lafayette in the first round on Friday in
Nashville, TN (7:10 p.m.)
With 18 wins in their last 19
games, the Cardinals are rolling as they make their 32nd appearance in the
NCAA tournament after capturing their second Conference USA Tournament title
in three years.
``This year, I think we're the
real deal,'' Pitino said. ``We're a legitimate team and I haven't felt that
way with any team I've coached at Louisville.''
Last season's Louisville squad
lost nine of its last 13 games before falling 80-70 to Xavier in the second
round of the NCAAs.
Though this season's group is
deep in perimeter talent, it's power forward Ellis Myles that Pitino says
stands out. Louisville's coach compares him to Antoine Walker, who helped
lead Pitino to his only national title at Kentucky in 1995-96.
``Antoine Walker did so many
things for us at Kentucky with his ball-handling and his passing,'' said
Pitino, who's made four Final Four appearances. ``Ellis is doing the same
things for us at Louisville. We know what he's all about.''
Myles' inside play is crucial
to Louisville's success, but the athleticism of forward Francisco Garcia and
guards Taquan Dean and Larry O'Bannon was just as important as the Cardinals
won 29 games and earned a No. 4 seed a spot that some observers criticized
as being too low.
While confident in his team's
ability, Pitino is also aware of the difficult task that lies ahead, and has
plenty of respect for the Ragin' Cajuns. The Cardinals were sixth in the
country in scoring at 81.2 points per game, but Louisiana-Lafayette hammered
three foes by a combined 44 points to claim a second straight Sun Belt
conference tournament and NCAA berth.
``We have ourselves a very
difficult opening-round game,'' Pitino said. ''(But) they're talented and
(we've got) to be ready for them.''
Louisiana-Lafayette also
enters the tournament playing very well, with wins in 14 of its last 17
games. Tiras Wade averages 20.4 points per game to lead four Ragin' Cajuns
starters averaging in double figures.
The Cajuns lost 61-52 to North
Carolina State in the first round last season, and that experience has coach
Robert Lee expecting more from his team this time around.
``Last year it was an exciting
feeling to get in,'' Lee said. ``Now we're focused on winning games, then we
can celebrate after it's all said and done. We need to keep our focus on
winning. The team that focuses longer will be the one that wins the
championship.''
Louisville has won all six
meetings with Louisiana-Lafayette, previously known as Southwestern
Louisiana, dating to 1966. The teams last met in 1991.
Friday's winner will face No.
5 Georgia Tech or 12th-seeded George Washington on Sunday.
PROBABLE STARTERS:
Louisiana-Lafayette - F Hamilton (13.5 ppg, 7.5 rpg) C Cameron (8.1 ppg, 3.4
rpg), G Greene (11.7 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 4.1 apg), G Wade (20.4 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 2.4
spg), G Mitchell (10.6 ppg, 5.9 rpg). Louisville - F Palacios (9.8 ppg, 6.6
rpg), F Garcia (15.4 ppg, 4.5 rpg), F Myles (10.5 ppg, 9.3 rpg), G Dean
(14.2 ppg, 3.9 rpg), G O'Bannon (14.9, 3.3 rpg).
HOW THEY GOT HERE:
Louisiana-Lafayette - Automatic bid, Sun Belt Conference tournament
champion. Louisville - Automatic bid, Conference USA tournament champion.
ALL-TIME TOURNAMENT RECORD:
Louisiana-Lafayette - 4-9, 8 years. Louisville - 49-33, 31 years.
News Nuggets are
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published by ECU, Conference USA and its member
schools; and reports from Associated Press and
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