The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
UAB Earns No. 3 Seed In 2009 C-USA Championship
3/8/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 8, 2009
>2009 C-USA Championship Bracket (PDF)
BIRMNGHAM, Ala. - The UAB men's basketball team will be the No. 3 seed in the 2009 Conference USA Men's Basketball Championship and will play the winner of No. 6 seed UCF and No. 11 seed Southern Miss on Thursday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. CT. Thursday's contest will be televised live on CSS and can also be heard on the Blazers' ISP Radio Network, 107.7 FM WUHT, beginning at 2 p.m.
This year's event will take place on March 11-14 at the FedExForum in Memphis, Tenn.
The Blazers clinched the No. 3 seed with a 70-52 victory over Marshall on Saturday afternoon. The win gave UAB a final regular-season record of 21-10 overall and 11-5 in league play. The 20-win season marked the second consecutive under head coach Mike Davis and the sixth 20-win campaign in the last seven years.
UAB swept the season series against Southern Miss, winning 66-49 in Hattiesburg, Miss. on Feb. 7 and 86-56 on Feb. 21 at Bartow Arena. The Blazers also defeated UCF, 60-52, in the team's only meeting back on Jan. 13 at Bartow Arena.
Regular season champion Memphis will be the No. 1 seed, as the Tigers, ranked No. 3 in the country, enter the conference tournament owning a record of 28-3 and the nation's longest winning streak at 22 games.
As the top seed, Memphis will also have a first-round bye at the tournament. Other teams receiving first-round byes along with the Tigers and Blazers are No. 2 Tulsa and No. 4 UTEP. Wednesday's first-round match-ups feature: No. 7 Marshall vs. No. 10 Rice at Noon, No. 6 UCF vs. No. 11 Southern Miss at 2:30 p.m., No. 8 Tulane vs. No. 9 East Carolina at 6 p.m., and No. 5 Houston vs. No. 12 SMU at 8:30 p.m. CT.
In Thursday's quarterfinal round, No. 2 Tulsa will take on the winner of the Marshall-Rice game at Noon. Following the UAB contest at 2:30 p.m., No. 1 seed Memphis will battle either Tulane or East Carolina at 6 p.m., while No. 4 seed UTEP will close out Thursday night against the winner of the Houston-SMU contest at 8:30 p.m.
All games will be played at FedExForum, the state-of-the-art arena in downtown Memphis, Tenn. Quarterfinal games will be shown on CSS, while CBS College Sports will televise the semifinals. CBS will broadcast the championship game, beginning at 10:35 a.m. (CDT).
For ticket information, please visit ConferenceUSA.com, or contact the UAB Athletic Ticket Office at 975-UAB1 (8221).
