Here’s the bracket for the Southland Conference men’s basketball tournament.
It’s set for Wednesday through Saturday in Katy.
Incarnate Word (7-21, 2-16) in San Antonio was eligible to reach the tournament for the first time this season but did not make it into the eight-team field.
Southeastern Louisiana is the top seed, followed by Nicholls State, Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston.
1H, 3:45 | UTSA leads Rice 32-14. Lyle has knocked down his third and fourth ? of the half. He has at least three 3-pointers in 15 games this season. pic.twitter.com/GBFd2eb8ln
— UTSA Basketball (@UTSAMBB) March 4, 2018
Junior Deon Lyle said the basket just looked big.
Whatever the case, Lyle hit it with regularity in scoring a season-high 33 points Saturday, lifting the UTSA Roadruners to a 79-60 road victory at Rice.
In the regular-season finale for both teams, UTSA surged into a 24-5 lead in the first 11 minutes en route to the team’s 18th victory.
As a result, UTSA (18-13, 11-7) will be the fifth seed in the Conference USA tournament next week in Frisco.
The Roadrunners will open against the No. 12 UTEP Miners at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Rice (7-24, 4-14) was edged out by UTEP for the last spot in the tournament.
Interviewed on the team’s radio broadcast, Lyle said his teammates “did a great job” driving into the paint and kicking the ball out to him on the wing.
“The whole (Rice) team would collapse, Lyle said. “They’d lose me and I’d get open and knock one in.”
Lyle finished 11 of 24 from the field and 8 of 19 from three-point range.
His final point tally broke the team season-high of 31 points held by Jhivvan Jackson, who is out for the year with a knee injury.
“Last game we played, we played real selfish,” Lyle said, talking about an 80-62 loss Thursday night at North Texas. “We didn’t play team ball. I just wanted to make sure we got the win (tonight).
“Me and Jhivvan are real close. He’s like my brother. Then he gets hurt. I just wanted to go out and do it for him and do it for my team tonight.”
UTSA tied a season-high with 15 three-point shots and seemed to be much more locked in defensively, especially in the first half.
“We got off to a real good start,” UTSA coach Steve Henson said. “Defensively, we were very, very sharp. I thought we made a lot of the right plays, offensively.
“When the ball goes through the net, that keeps your energy going.”
The 18 wins are the most for UTSA since an 18-14 finish in the 2011-12 season, the team’s last year in the Southland Conference.
In addition, the 11 conference wins are also the most for the program in the post-SLC era.
Abilene Christian kept its Southland Conference playoff hopes alive Saturday with a 69-59 victory over the Incarnate Word Cardinals.
The Wildcats held UIW to 27 percent shooting in the second half in rallying from a four-point halftime deficit.
Center Jalone Friday led Abilene Christian with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Guard Tevin Foster also scored 17 for ACU.
Forward Charles Brown III paced UIW with 12 points and 7 rebounds.
Trailing by nine points, Incarnate Word rallied Saturday into a 37-33 halftime lead over Abilene Christian in the regular-season finale for both teams.
Charles Brown III hit two baskets, followed by a driving layup from Augustine Ene.
Finally, Sam Burmeister drained a three pointer at the buzzer (see video above) to lift the Cardinals into a four-point lead at the break.
The game was played in front of an announced crowd of 1,256 at UIW’s Convocation Center.
Check out photos from @MT_MBB's victory over WKU here: https://t.co/alLtvoH1lJ #BlueRaiders #CUSAMBK Back-to-Back Regular Season Champions! pic.twitter.com/sY5MxMi4aP
— MT Athletics (@MTAthletics) March 2, 2018
The 24th-ranked Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders will play host to Marshall on Saturday, having already clinched the Conference USA regular-season championship.
Heading into the regular-season finale for both teams, the Blue Raiders have locked up the No. 1 seed in next week’s C-USA tournament.
Middle Tennessee doesn’t have any motivation in that regard.
But it does have an opportunity to show once again that it belongs in the NCAA tournament field no matter what happens next week in Frisco.
The Blue Raiders certainly lived up to their billing Thursday night.
They trounced a good Western Kentucky team 82-64 in front of 11,307 boisterous fans in Murfreesboro.
“It was electric,” Blue Raiders coach Kermit Davis said, via the Associated Press.
“I’ve said it ever since we’ve been ranked — and I don’t say it boastfully, I just say it honestly — that we look and play and prepare like a Top 25 team.
“And everybody asks me the question, ‘How are your guys going to handle it?’ The more success, the more motivation.”
Middle Tennessee (24-5, 16-1) toyed with Western Kentucky (22-8, 14-3).
The front line combination of Brandon Walters and Nick King produced 36 points and 20 rebounds.
There isn’t a team in the conference that can handle the Blue Raiders when those two are playing at that level.
“Brandon Walters is playing like an elite center in college basketball,” Davis said. “When Brandon plays like that, we can play with a lot of people in college basketball.”
One team in the conference cheering for Middle Tennessee on Saturday is UTSA.
Seeking a bye in the first round of the tournament, the Roadrunners need to win on the road against Rice and also have Middle Tennessee register a victory against Marshall.
Such a scenario would produce a tie for fourth in the standings between UTSA and Marshall.
UTSA subsequently would get the No. 4 seed and the bye based on an 81-77 victory over Marshall in San Antonio on Feb. 1.
Rice also enters the final weekend with something on the line — a shot at making the 12-team tournament in spite of a 23-loss regular season.
The Owls need a win over the Roadrunners and a UTEP loss at North Texas to claim the No. 12 seed.
C-USA Standings
Middle Tennessee 16-1, 24-5
Old Dominion 14-3, 23-6
Western Kentucky 14-3, 22-8
Marshall 11-6, 20-10
UTSA 10-7, 17-13
UAB 9-8, 18-12
North Texas 8-9, 15-15
FIU 8-9, 14-16
Louisiana Tech 7-10 16-14
Southern Miss 6-11, 13-17
Florida Atlantic 6-11, 12-17
UTEP 5-12, 10-19
Rice 4-13, 7-23
Charlotte 1-16, 5-23
Saturday’s games
Louisiana Tech at Southern Miss, 4 p.m.
UTEP at North Texas, 5 p.m.
FIU at Old Dominion, 6 p.m.
Marshall at Middle Tennessee, 6 p.m.
FAU at Charlotte, 6:30 p.m.
WKU at UAB, 7 p.m.
UTSA at Rice, 7 p.m.
Time to for work.@APlayersProgram#BearDown pic.twitter.com/T3gjXAJkyP
— Arizona Athletics (@AZATHLETICS) March 2, 2018
Embattled coach Sean Miller returned to the bench Thursday night, and his Arizona Wildcats responded with a 75-67 victory over Stanford to clinch at least a share of the Pac-12 basketball title.
After sitting out one game, Miller received the backing of his university administration, which paved the way for him to work the Stanford game at the McKale Center in Tucson.
At issue was an ESPN report quoting anonymous sources saying that Miller had discussed with an agent a payment to center Deandre Ayton.
The report’s validity has since come into question following publication of a story by another news organization.
A story at si.com says that details of a wiretapped phone conversation involving Miller were inaccurately reported by ESPN.
Earlier Thursday, the drama unfolded when Miller issued a statement denying he approved a payment to Ayton, the Pac-12’s scoring and rebounding leader.
Also, Arizona’s president said there is no evidence of wrongdoing by the coach.
ESPN said it stands by its reporting.
In the aftermath, Arizona took the court and surged to a 37-28 halftime lead over Stanford.
The Cardinal rallied to pull within 67-62 when Dorian Pickens hit two free throws with 4:33 remaining.
Afterward, Arizona steadied itself with guard Alonzo Trier hitting six straight free throws down the stretch.
Trier sat out last week’s road games at Oregon State and Oregon after failing a drug test.
Read the complete report of the game at azcentral.com.
Roosevelt Smart and DJ Draper combined to hit 10 three-point baskets as the North Texas Mean Green rolled to an 80-62 victory Thursday night at Denton in Conference USA basketball.
With the victory, North Texas ended UTSA’s three-game winning streak.
The Mean Green also swept both games from the Roadrunners in the season series between the in-state rivals.
Smart led North Texas with 22 points, including four field goals from beyond the arc. Draper hit 6 of 7 from the field, all from three.
Playing its first game without injured freshman standout Jhivvan Jackson, UTSA was led by Deon Lyle with 15 points.
“We weren’t very good on either end of the floor,” UTSA coach Steve Henson told the team’s radio broadcast. “We were just out of sorts offensively.”
Jackson is out for the season with a knee injury that he suffered last Saturday night at home against Louisiana Tech.
Records
North Texas 15-15, 8-9
UTSA 17-13, 10-7
Coming up
UTSA at Rice, Saturday, 7 p.m.
C-USA tournament
Despite the loss to North Texas, UTSA will have an opportunity on the last day of the regular season to secure the No. 4 seed and a bye in the first round of the C-USA tournament.
UTSA remained solidly in contention for the fourth seed when UAB defeated Marshall 91-77, in Birmingham. The loss dropped Marshall to 11-6 in conference, one game ahead of UTSA.
Marshall finishes its regular season Saturday at first-place Middle Tennessee.
To get the fourth seed, UTSA needs to defeat Rice and hope that Middle Tennessee beats Marshall.
The tiebreaker would favor the Roadrunners under that scenario because of their 81-77 victory over the Thundering Herd in San Antonio on Feb. 1.
Henson said it won’t be easy to beat the Owls on their Senior Night.
“We’ve got to play better basketball,” the coach said. “Their match-up defense, they’re doing some really good things with it. They’re playing (a) 3-2 (zone). It’ll be frustrating if we can’t get some better movement and knock down some shots.”
The tournament runs March 7-10 in Frisco.
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UIW senior Shawn Johnson follows his own miss with a rebound and a 15-foot jumper in the second half against Houston Baptist.
Incarnate Word coach Ken Burmeister barked at guard Shawn Johnson during a timeout early in the first half Wednesday night.
In response, Johnson seemed to take it out on the Houston Baptist Huskies for the rest of the game.
The senior from New Orleans hit career highs with 28 points and 17 rebounds as UIW won its second straight, downing Houston Baptist, 83-71.
In what seemed like a highlight-a-minute first half, Johnson had two powerful dunks and a couple of blocked shots to keep the Cardinals close.
Trailing 41-37 at intermission, they played better team ball in the second half, shooting 51.6 percent from the field.
Asked after the game about the motivation for his burst of energy, Johnson grinned and said, “Coach started yelling.”
“I don’t know, something clicked, and I was like, ‘I got to go get some buckets for the team,’ ” he said. “That’s what really happened. I wanted it, so I went to go get it.”
Johnson’s 17 rebounds were his career best. His also had 28 points last year against Rice.
The game between in-state rivals in the Southland Conference unfolded before an announced 1,052 at UIW’s Convocation Center.
Both teams have been eliminated from contention for the SLC tournament.
Johnson will play his last college game Saturday when UIW hosts Abilene Christian at 3 p.m.
An engineering major, Johnson said he has one more semester of school remaining before he graduates next December.
“I’m proud that I made it through college,” he said. “It’s touching A lot of people wouldn’t be able to finish it, and it’s difficult, but I stuck with it and I’m glad I made it.
“I’m not down about it. I’m really just happy about it.”
Records
Incarnate Word 7-20, 2-15
Houston Baptist 6-24, 2-15
Coming up
Abilene Christian at Incarnate Word, 3 p.m. Saturday, regular-season finale
Incarnate Word forward Christian Peevy spins to the hoop for a basket in the first half Wednesday against Houston Baptist.
Oh, and he can play a little bit of defense too ?@therealjnari_ gets another one: #B1G Defensive Player of the Year!#SpartanDawg pic.twitter.com/5531lvawB1
— Spartan Basketball (@MSU_Basketball) February 26, 2018
Michigan State freshman Jaren Jackson Jr., the son of former Spurs guard Jaren Jackson, has been named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year.
Conference tournaments in NCAA Division I college basketball opened this week.
The A Sun tipped off on Monday, the Big South on Tuesday and then the Big Ten and a handful of others were set to start tonight.
The winners of 32 conference tournaments receive automatic bids to the NCAA tournament.
Another 36 teams will be picked at large by a selection committee. The field of 68 will be announced on March 11.
A link to the conference tournament schedules is here.