Conference USA Tournament 2012: Memphis Wins Championship With Easy 83-57 Victory Over Marshall

The Memphis Tigers had no trouble on Saturday in the 2012 Conference USA Championship Game, dismissing Marshall 83-57 and snagging the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. It was the Tigers sixth Conference USA Championship.

Memphis has now won seven straight games, and 20 of their last 23. It was their 15th consecutive tournament win on their own court, and the Tigers are now 31-8 all-time in tournament games played in Memphis.

Five Memphis players scored in double digits, led by Joe Jackson's 19 points and six assists. Wesley Witherspoon chipped in 11 points for Josh Pastner's club.

This was Marshall's first appearance in a conference tournament championship game since they faced Chattanooga in the 1997 Southern Conference title game. The loss likely squashes the hopes of the Thundering Herd for making the Dance, as upset wins over Tulsa and Southern Miss on their way to the matchup with Memphis will likely not be enough to sway the selection committee.

You can find a full tournament bracket here. For more news, analysis, and discussion of college hoops as March Madness warms up, check out SB Nation's NCAA basketball hub.

Conference USA Tournament 2012: Bracket, Schedule And More

The 2012 Conference USA Championship game will be played early Saturday, pitting the top-seeded Memphis Tigers against upstart No. 6 seed Marshall.

Marshall upset the Southern Miss Golden Eagles in the semifinals, 73-62. The loss places Southern Miss squarely on the bubble, and gives the Thundering Herd a chance to steal a bid with a win over Memphis in the championship game. Marshall will need to keep up their hot shooting if they are to win. The Thundering Herd were nine of 17 from three point land in the semifinal win.

Memphis advanced to the tile game via a 83-52 demolition of UCF. Six different Tigers scored eight points or more, and the Memphis defense simply overwhelmed the Knights, just as the Memphis defense keyed their quarterfinal win over UTEP. Memphis held UCF to 33.3 percent shooting for the game, and a ghastly two of 19 from beyond the three point line.

Grad a bagel and some coffee, as this title game tips off at 11:35 a.m. on CBS.

You can find a full tournament bracket here. For more news, analysis, and discussion of college hoops as March Madness warms up, check out SB Nation's NCAA basketball hub.

Conference USA Tournament 2012: UCF Eliminated By Memphis 83-52

The University of Central Florida's appearance in the Conference USA Tournament was brought to a painful end by the top-seeded Memphis Tigers, who dominated the Golden Knights 83-52 in Friday night's semifinal match-up in Memphis, Tenn.

The top-seeded Tigers held the Golden Knights to 33 percent shooting from the field and led by as many as 38 points after Charles Holt's three-pointer made the score 82-44 with 3:35 to go. Central Florida had taken an early 7-5 lead after Marcus Jordan's three-pointer with 16:13 left in the first half. But the Tigers scored 31 of the next 46 points to take a 36-22 lead at the half, and the rout was on from there.

The loss dropped Central Florida's record to 22-10. Memphis improved to 25-8 and will play Marshall in Saturday's tournament final.

You can find a full tournament bracket here. For more news, analysis, and discussion on the college hoops as March Madness warms up, check out SB Nation's NCAA basketball hub.

Conference USA Tournament 2012: Memphis Vs. UCF Time, TV Schedule, Bracket And More

The Central Florida Knights face a stiff challenge in the Conference USA tournament semifinals on Friday night as they play the top-seed host, the Memphis Tigers. The Knights have split games against the Tigers this season, defeating Memphis at home on Jan. 18 68-67, but losing at Memphis on Feb. 28 84-55.

The Knights will lean on their leading scorer in forward Keith Clanton who has averaged 15 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. Guard Marcus Jordan, 14.1 points per game, will also be a key factor for scoring Friday night. The winner of this semifinal game will face the winner of the Southern Miss-Marshall game for the C-USA championship and the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

The game will be broadcast live on the CBS Sports Network with a scheduled tip off of 6 p.m. However that time could change given what time the Southern Miss-Marshall game ends.

You can find a full tournament bracket here. For more news, analysis, and discussion on the college hoops as March Madness warms up, check out SB Nation's NCAA basketball hub.

Conference USA Tournament 2012: Bracket, TV Schedule And More

The quarterfinal round of the 2012 Conference USA Tournament concluded on Thursday evening with two games finishing up in overtime, including one of the most exciting conference tournament games in recent memory.

The Marshall Thundering Herd made their way to the semifinal round with their triple-overtime victory over the Tulsa Golden Hurricane 105-100. Tulsa held a slight 32-30 lead at halftime early on, but Marshall stormed back to tie the game and send it into overtime. Then the two teams began racking up buckets until Marshall finally pulled away late to seal the victory. With the win, Marshall advances to the semifinal round to take on the No. 2 seed Southern Miss. Southern Miss also advanced with an overtime victory, but unlike Marshall the Golden Eagles needed just one overtime period to get past East Carolina 81-78. One does have to wonder though if fatigue will play a factor for Marshall heading into Friday afternoon.

The second semifinal matchup will pit the likes of Central Florida against No. 1 seed Memphis on Friday night. Memphis made it to the semifinal round taking out UTEP in dominant fashion 65-47 leading the game throughout. They'll take on UCF who got to the semifinal's by taking down UAB rather handily, leading 36-29 at halftime and just coasting to the 64-54 victory.

Semifinal Round (CBS Sports Network)

No. 6 Marshall vs. No. 2 Southern Miss - 4 p.m. ET
No. 4 UCF vs. No. 1 Memphis - 6 p.m. ET

You can find a full tournament bracket here. For more news, analysis, and discussion on the college hoops as March Madness warms up, check out SB Nation's NCAA basketball hub.

#UCF Defense Shut Down Blazers

The second half was not pretty if you tuned in looking for offense as UCF struggled a bit with turnovers while UAB could not hit anything. UAB missed 14 consecutive field goal attempts at one point in the game but were still able to get the lead down to six points with under six minutes yet were unable to get any closer as UCF won 64 to 54.

The Knights shot 51 percent from the field on 23 of 45 shooting and were 13 of 19 from the free throw line despite not hitting their first free throw until the final five minutes of the game. Tonight’s game was the most balanced scoring effort in quite some time as Keith Clanton, Marcus Jordan, Isaiah Sykes, A.J. Rompza, Josh Crittle, and P.J. Gaynor all had at least six points in the game but nobody scored more than 14.

The Knights lost the battle of the boards 33 to 29 and committed five more turnovers than the Blazers, but won thanks to limiting UAB to just 29 percent shooting from the floor. Defending Conference USA player of the year Cameron Moore was held to just six points in the game, with all six points coming from the free throw line as the big man was 0 of 8 from the floor.

The Knights are right back on the floor tomorrow night in front of the partisan local crowd to take on Memphis on the same court in which they were thoroughly dominated by the Tigers less than two weeks ago. Memphis played earlier tonight and won handily over UTEP.

Tonight’s victory propels UCF into the Conference USA semifinals for the first time in school history and gives the Knights a clean three game sweep of the UAB Blazers, a team they had failed to defeat in their previous seven matchups.

UCF Up 7 at Half

The Knights almost had to come into this game short-handed as Isaiah Sykes was listed as questionable during pre-game with a sore wrist suffered in the Saturday win over UAB. That would have negated the advantage UCF has in tonight’s game as UAB is without starting point guard Quincy Taylor who suffered a season-ending knee injury in the same game.

UAB is playing with essentially a six-man rotation tonight with Jordan Swing handling the point guard duties and the Knights have been able to use a tough defense that has taken all-conference forward Cameron Moore out of the offense forcing others to step up and score. So far, Preston Purify and Ovie Soko have done that combining to score 21 points but the other four Blazers have added just eight and UAB trails UCF 36-29 at the half.

UCF shot 59 percent from the floor in the first half while hitting only four of ten of its 3-point attempts; UCF had ten first half 3-point shots five days ago against UAB. Isaiah Sykes, Marcus Jordan, and Keith Clanton have each scored at least eight points on 11 of 18 shooting. The Knights hold a two rebound edge on the boards and have ten assists to just three turnovers while UAB has six assists and five turnovers.

Conference USA Tournament 2012: UCF Vs. UAB Time, TV Coverage And More

The Central Florida Knights open their Conference USA tournament on Thursday night against the Alabama-Birmingham Dragons. The game is scheduled to tip off at 10 p.m. from the FedEx Forum in Memphis, TN. This is dependent on what time the prior game between UTEP and Memphis finishes. The game will be televised live on the CBS Sports Network.

The Dragons got into this game by defeating the Tulane Green Wave in the first round 72-64. The winner of this game will face the winner of the UTEP-Memphis game on Friday night. The Knights will need a great performance by forward Keith Clanton and guard Marcus Jordan averaging about 29 points per game combined. Clanton also averages 8.6 rebounds per game and will need to be big on the boards to prevent the Green Wave from pulling the upset.

You can find a full tournament bracket here. For more news, analysis, and discussion on the college hoops as March Madness warms up, check out SB Nation's NCAA basketball hub.

Conference USA Tournament 2012: Quarterfinal Bracket, Schedule And More

The Central Florida Knights begin their Conference USA Tournament campaign on Thursday, as they look to secure an NCAA Tournament berth. They're seeded No. 4 in the tournament and play in in the final quarterfinal on Thursday. East Carolina and Southern Miss kick things off in the early afternoon.

The Memphis Tigers are the No. 1 seed in the tournament and should be in the NCAA tournament regardless of what happens on Thursday. They face the UTEP Miners -- winners of a first-round game on Wednesday night -- in the first game of the night session. The winner of that game faces the winner of the game between UCF and the UAB Blazers.

Marshall and Tulsa play in the late afternoon game, and the winner of that game faces the ECU-Southern Miss winner.

Schedule (Thursday, CBS Sports Network)

No. 2 Southern Miss vs. No. 10 East Carolina - 1:00 p.m. ET
No. 3 Tulsa vs. No. 6 Marshall - 3:30 p.m. ET
No. 1 Memphis vs. No. 8 UTEP - 7:30 p.m. ET
No. 4 UCF vs. No. 5 UAB - 10:00 p.m. ET

You can find a full tournament bracket here. For more news, analysis, and discussion on the college hoops as March Madness warms up, check out SB Nation's NCAA basketball hub.

Conference USA Tournament 2012: Bracket, Schedule And More

The first round of the Conference USA Tournament kicks off today at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tennessee. As it's only the first round, none of the top seeds are scheduled to play today, but there are still a number of intriguing match-ups:

First Round: Wednesday, March 7

1:00 PM: No. 7 Rice vs. No.10 East Carolina
3:30 p.m.: No. 6 Marshall vs. No.11 SMU
7:30 p.m.: No. 8 UTEP vs. No.9 Houston
10:00 p.m.: No. 5 UAB vs. No.12 Tulane

In this first round, UTEP is a team to keep your eye on. While No. 1 seed Memphis is the overwhelming favorites to win the tournament, SB Nation's Bill Connelly likes UTEP as a sleeper:

When your favorite has a three-times better shot of winning than everybody else combined, that makes everybody a dark horse, right? But when your No. 2 and No. 3 teams both limp into the tournament on a bit of a cold streak, the dark gets darker. So we'll take a huge reach for Tim Floyd's 14-16 Miners, who really are not very good but could not have ended up with a better draw. A miraculous path to the tourney title could feature wins over Houston, Memphis and Southern Miss, against whom they went 3-1 this year. It still isn't likely, of course -- a rematch versus Memphis would come against a pretty ticked off Tiger squad, plus their semifinal matchup would probably come against either UCF (UCF 63, UTEP 45 on Feb. 25) or UAB (UAB 61, UTEP 60 on Feb. 4). Still, the Miners have performed rather well against solid teams (and less so against lesser squads).

The UCF Knights are the No. 4 seed in the tournament, so they will play in the second round against the winner of UAB/Tulane. That game will air at 10:00pm EST Thursday night. You can find the full C-USA Tournament bracket here.

This first round action will only be available on CSS; for those outside the range of CSS, you can stream games online using the C-USA Digital Network. In later rounds, the games will be televised by CBSSN.

Conference USA Tournament 2012: UCF Seeded No. 4, Will Have First Round Bye

The UCF Knights head to Memphis with a first round bye and the No. 4 seed in the C-USA conference tournament this week.