| 2010 GMC Sierra C-USA Men's Basketball Championship Set-Wilkerson Player Of Week |
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| Written by Conference USA | |||||
| Sunday, 07 March 2010 21:00 | |||||
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By Courtney Morrison-Archer,
Conference USA for Herd Insider
Irvine, Texas - Regular season champion UTEP will be the No. 1 seed at the 2010 GMC Sierra Conference USA Men's Basketball Championship, March 10-13 at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Okla. The Miners, ranked as high as No. 21 in the country, enter the conference tournament as the No.1 seed for the first time, owning an overall record of 24-5 (15-1 in C-USA) and a current winning streak of 14 games. As the top seed, UTEP will have a first-round bye at the tournament.Other teams receiving first-round byes include No. 2 Memphis, No. 3 UAB and No. 4 Marshall.
Marshall senior forward Tyler Wilkerson was named C-USA Player of the Week and Tulane freshman Jordan Callahan was selected as the C-USA Rookie of the Week by a media panel representing each conference member for games through March 7. Wilkerson posted back-to-back double-doubles for the Thundering Herd. Callahan had a career night with 21 points and five rebounds to lead the Green Wave to a win over Houston Saturday. Wilkerson posted back-to-back double-doubles this week as Marshall clinched a first-round bye in the C-USA Championship following a win at SMU on Saturday. Wilkerson scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebound for his seventh double-double of the season and 18th of his career. He was 9-of-13 from the field and is the team's leading scorer (13.9 ppg). In a four-point loss to No. 21 UTEP on Tuesday, Wilkerson also posted a double-double with 22 points and 16 boards. He sank 11 of his 12 free-throw attempts against the Miners. This is the first C-USA Player of the Week honor in Wilkerson's career. Wednesday's first-round match-ups feature: No. 7 Houston vs. No. 10 East Carolina at 1 p.m., No. 6 Southern Miss vs. No. 11 Tulane at 3:30 p.m., No. 5 Tulsa vs. No. 12 Rice at 7 p.m., and No. 8 SMU vs. No. 9 UCF at 9:30 p.m. (EST). In Thursday's quarterfinal round, No. 2 Memphis (23-8, 13-3) will take on the winner of the Houston-East Carolina game at 1 p.m. and No. 3 UAB (23-7, 11-5) will face the winner of the Southern Miss-Tulane match-up beginning at 3:30 p.m. No. 4 seed Marshall (23-8, 11-5) will battle either Tulsa or Rice at 7:30 p.m., while top-seeded UTEP will close out Thursday night against the winner of the SMU-UCF contest at 10 p.m. (all times EST). All four quarterfinal games will be televised by CBS College Sports.
 Hassan Whiteside (#21) and Tyler Wilkerson (#32) have had back-to-back double-doubles and lead the Herd into the GMC Sierra Conference USA Tournament on Thursday at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, at 7 p.m. eastern against the winner of Wednesday's game between Tulsa and Rice - HI file photo Greg Perry.
The tournament will get underway on Wednesday when Houston squares off with East Carolina at 1 p.m.. The Cougars are led by senior guard Aubrey Coleman, the nation's leading scorer (26.0 ppg). East Carolina's attack is spearheaded by junior guard Brock Young, one of the nation's leaders in assists. Houston won the regular season meeting between the teams, 74-55, on Jan. 16 in Greenville, N.C. Longtime rivals Southern Miss and Tulane meet in the second game on Wednesday. The Golden Eagles, who have won their last four opening round C-USA Championship games, are led by junior forward Gary Flowers, who ranks in the top 10 in the league in scoring, rebounding and blocks. The Green Wave, who closed the regular season with a victory over Houston, has also won four straight opening games at the C-USA Championship, giving head coach Dave Dickerson a 4-0 record in opening round tournament games. Southern Miss took both regular season meetings between the teams, including a 66-57 decision last Tuesday in Hattiesburg, Miss. This will mark the first time that these two charter members have ever met each other in the 15-year history of the C-USA Championship. Host Tulsa and Rice will square off in the 8-9 game at 7 p.m. Wednesday. Tulsa, playing in front of the home crowd, features a talented inside-outside senior duo in guard Ben Uzoh and center Jerome Jordan. The Golden Hurricane has reached the championship game of the past two C-USA Championships. Rice is led by freshman forward Arsalan Kazemi, NCAA Division I's first-ever Iranian-born player. Tulsa won the only meeting between the teams this season, 62-58 in Tulsa on Jan. 23. The teams squared off in last year's championship quarterfinals, with Tulsa winning, 73-51. The final game on Wednesday pits SMU against UCF at 9:30 p.m. The Mustangs, who have improved their win total by five games this season, are led by junior forward Papa Dia, who ranks in the top five in the league in rebounding and field goal percentage. The Knights bring a famous sibling to Tulsa in the form of freshman guard Marcus Jordan, son of Basketball Hall of Famer Michael Jordan. The Mustangs took the regular season meeting between the teams, 65-43, on Jan. 27 in Dallas. Memphis (22-8, 13-3 in C-USA) has won each of the last four tournaments and is 15-1 in its last 16 C-USA Championship games. UAB (23-7, 11-5) finished in the top four of the regular season standings for the sixth time in seven years. Marshall (23-8, 11-5) has posted its highest win total since the 1987-88 season and earns its first tournament bye since joining the league in 2005. All games will be played at BOK Center, the state-of-the-art arena in downtown Tulsa. In addition to the quarterfinal games, semifinal games will be shown on CBS College Sports at 4:00 and 6:30 p.m. CBS will broadcast the championship game on Saturday, beginning at 10:35 a.m. (CST). For ticket information, please visit ConferenceUSA.com, contact your local Conference USA school's ticket office, the BOK Center box office or Ticketmaster. 2010 GMC Sierra Conference USA Championship Wednesday, March 10 Thursday, March 11 Friday, March 12 Saturday, March 13 *highest remaining seed entering the semifinals will play at 4:00 p.m. All Times Eastern All Marshall games on The Dawg, 93.7 FM (WDGG) and SuperTalk 94.1 FM and AM 930 (WRVC) in Huntington, with Woody Woodrum and the Herd Insider Pre-Game Show one hour before tip-off and Steve Cotton of the Thundering Herd/ISP Sports Network rocking the network pre-game 30 minutes before tip. Join Woodrum on the Herd Insider Sportsline after the network wraps to take you calls and discuss the game.
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| Last Updated on Wednesday, 10 March 2010 14:53 |