The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB-Memphis Battle For C-USA Tournament Title
3/11/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 11, 2006
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MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- It's a UAB-Memphis rubber match for the title. No. 24 and Conference USA Tournament second seed UAB and fifth-ranked and top seed Memphis clash in the C-USA championship game at 10:35 a.m. CT Saturday. The teams split the regular season home-and-home with each winning on its own floor.
UAB ground out a 63-60 semifinal win over UTEP Friday evening. Marvett McDonald scored 15 points, Paul Delaney had 13 and Squeaky Johnson added 12 with six assists in the UAB win. Memphis used 23 points from Shawne Williams and 17 from Rodney Carney to run past Houston, 68-54, in its semifinal game Friday.
UAB was the only C-USA team to beat Memphis this year, but did so in front of 8,500 strong in Bartow Arena, 80-74, on March 2. The meeting between the two in the FedExForum resulted in a 73-66 Memphis win on Jan. 26. Darius Washington Jr. has scored 26 and 17 in his two games against UAB this year. The Blazers have been led by Marvett McDonald and Paul Delaney, who have scored 14.5 and 14.0 point averages against Memphis this year.
Memphis is playing at home and is the higher-ranked of the two top-25 programs. But the Blazers have the confidence produced by last week's six-point win over Memphis.
Carney leads the Tigers with a 17.8 points per game average. Point guard Darius Washington Jr., adds 13.7 points per contest while C-USA Freshman of the Year Shawne Williams adds 13.3 points per game. Memphis outscores its opponents by an average of 82-67. The Tigers hit 45 percent from the field and out-rebound foes, 42-35.
McDonald is UAB's top scorer at 15.3 points per game. Wen Mukubu averages 9.4 points per game while Paul Delaney, who averages 8.3 points per game, has scored 11 and 13 in two C-USA tournament games this week.
This will be UAB's second appearance in the Conference USA title game, but the school's ninth overall. The Blazers lost to Louisville, 83-78, in the 2003 C-USA title game in Louisville's Freedom Hall. That UAB team went on to the final eight of the NIT. The Blazers made seven appearances in the Sun Belt Conference championship game, going 4-3 in those. UAB is 4-4 overall in conference tournament finals.
The winner of the contest receives Conference USA's automatic bid to the 2006 NCAA Tournament. The loser awaits a likely at-large bid to the "Big Dance." The tournament's selection show, "The Road To The Final Four" airs at 5 p.m. CT Sunday on CBS.
In addition to the CBS telecast, the radio broadcast of the game can be heard on the ISP/Blazer Sports Network found locally in Birmingham on WYDE, 101.1 FM.
