The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
C-USA Update: Three Teams Claim Top Spot In Standings
2/10/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Each week leading into the 2015 Conference USA Championship in Birmingham, Steve Irvine of UABSports.com will provide a preview of what is going on in Conference USA. Tickets for the tournament can be purchased at UABSports.com.
STANDINGS
1. La. Tech (9-2, 18-6)
UAB (9-2, 13-11)
Western Kentucky (9-2, 16-7)
4. UTEP (8-3, 16-7)
5. ODU (7-3, 18-4)
6. UTSA (6-5, 12-10)
Middle Tennessee (6-5, 13-11)
8. FIU (4-6, 11-12)
Rice (4-6, 7-15)
10. Marshall (4-7, 8-16)
11. Charlotte (3-7, 10-13)
North Texas (3-7, 9-13)
13. FAU (1-9, 8-13)
14. Southern Miss (1-10, 6-16)
THIS WEEK'S GAMES
Thursday
FAU at Louisiana Tech, 6:30 p.m.
Middle Tennessee at Rice, 7 p.m.
ODU at UTSA, 7 p.m.
UAB at North Texas, 7 p.m.
Charlotte at UTEP, 8 p.m.
FIU at Southern Miss, 8 p.m.
Saturday
Charlotte at UTSA, 2 p.m.
WKU at Marshall, 4:30 p.m.
FIU at Louisiana Tech, 6 p.m.
FAU at Southern Miss, 7 p.m.
Middle Tennessee at North Texas, 7 p.m.
UAB at Rice, 7 p.m.
ODU at UTEP, 8 p.m.
GAMES OF THE WEEK
Old Dominion at UTSA and Old Dominion at UTEP: Old Dominion sits just outside the No. 4 spot in C-USA standings. The top four teams in regular season play receive a first round bye in the C-USA Tournament at the BJCC. The Monarchs can greatly improve their standing in that quest this week or can drop down the standings. UTEP is currently a half-game ahead of fifth place ODU and UTSA is a game back of the Monarchs in a tie for sixth place. All three of the Monarchs' conference losses have come on the road. It should be fun to watch from the outside.
C-USA PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Kaj-Bjorn Sherman, UTSA: The 7-foot senior was selected as the C-USA Player of the Week after helping the Miners to a pair of wins. Sherman averaged 21 points and 9.5 rebounds while playing 35.5 minutes per game. He shot 54.2 percent (13-of-24) from the floor and connected on 16 of his 21 (76.2 percent) free throw attempts. Sherman opened the week with 14 points and four rebounds to help the Roadrunners rally for a victory at FIU on Thursday. His top effort came on Saturday when he had a career-high 28 points to go along with 15 rebounds two days later at Florida Atlantic.
Nick Norton, UAB: The Blazers' starting point guard earned his second C-USA Freshman of the Week honor in the past three weeks. This time, he averaged 11.5 points per game, went 9-for-10 (90 percent) from the free-throw line, totaled nine assists and had just three turnovers in victories over Louisiana Tech and Southern Miss.
UAB SPOTLIGHT
No C-USA team has been better at the free throw line during conference play than the Blazers. UAB is converting 81.8 percent of its free throws in C-USA action. Three teams - Western Kentucky, UTSA and UTEP - have attempted more free throws than UAB but the Blazers have made a conference-best 189. UAB is the only C-USA team to have three of the top 10 players in free throw percentage during conference play. Tyler Madison (90.6 percent) is third, Nick Norton (89.2 percent) is fourth and Hakeem Baxter (82.2 percent) is 10th.
C-USA SPOTLIGHT
Marshall still has some work left to climb into the upper half of the C-USA standings. But the Thundering Herd is showing they won't be easy to beat in the final half of the season, in a large part because of sophomore Ryan Taylor. The 6-foot-5, 225-pound Taylor has produced double-doubles in each of the past six games. He averaged 14.5 points and 10.5 rebounds in wins over Rice and North Texas last week. Marshall has won four of its past five games.
C-USA CHAMPIONSHIPS TICKET INFORMATION
Fans can purchase tickets to this year's Conference USA Championship, which will be hosted by UAB and the City of Birmingham, by calling 205-975-8221 or by visiting UABSports.com.
