Nov. 24, 2009
Five Conference USA teams are slated for action this evening, serving as hosts to non-conference opponents. Memphis, Rice, Southern Miss, Tulsa and UAB are all scheduled for a 7 p.m. CST tip-off.
The Tigers host Central Arkansas in the third game of the Hall of Fame Showcase. Memphis is 1-1, defeating Tennessee Tech after getting edged by top-ranked Kansas, 57-55, in St. Louis. Rice returns home, where the Owls are 3-0 this season, to host Furman. Southern Miss welcomes crosstown rival William Carey. Tulsa also puts its undefeated record on the line as host to a Loyola Marymount team that just knocked off USC, while UAB hosts an in-state rival of its own, Troy, at Bartow Arena.
Complete Men's Basketball Notebook & Stats in PDF Format 
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
AUBREY COLEMAN, HOUSTON
Senior, Guard, Houston, Texas
Coleman registered the fourth and fifth 30-point games of his career to help lead the Cougars to a 1-1 record to open the season. He recorded a game-high 33 points in the season-opening win over Nicholls State on Nov. 17. He also added three assists, four steals and nine boards, falling just one shy of his 15th career double-double. He then led all players with 32 points and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds at Nevada Saturday. He scored 16 of his game-high 32 points during a nine-minute run that saw the Cougars turn a 26-point second half deficit into a six-point margin. This is his first Player of the Week honor this season and third of his career. He also earned five Rookie of the Week honors last season.
ROOKIE OF THE WEEK
ELLIOT WILLIAMS, MEMPHIS
Sophomore, Guard, Memphis, Tenn.
Williams averaged 22.0 ppg and 5.0 rpg in the Tigers' two games last week. He netted a career-high 21 points and grabbed a team-high six rebounds against top-ranked Kansas and then bettered that with a 23-point performance versus Tennessee Tech. He nailed a 3-pointer with 18 seconds to play to cut the Jayhawks' lead to 56-55, and his chance at the game-winner fell short. Against Tennessee Tech, Williams also contributed with four rebounds, four assists and two steals against TTU. This is the first Rookie of the Week honor for the sophomore transfer.
EAST CAROLINA (2-4)
• Next Game: Nov. 28 at UNC-Greensboro - 4 p.m. ET
• The Pirates closed out their trip to St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, for the 2009 Paradise Jam with an 82-73 win over South Dakota State. Junior guard Jontae Sherrod scored 23 points and was one of four Pirates to score in double figures. Darrius Morrow added 12 points, Chris Turner tossed in 11 off the bench and Chad Wynn scored 10. Junior Jamar Abrams chipped in nine points and a team-high seven rebounds.
• Junior guard Brock Young assisted on 10 Pirate baskets Monday and tallied six steals. Young finished the 2008-09 season averaging 7.6 assists per game, ranking first in C-USA and second in NCAA Division I.
• The Pirates shot 52.6 percent (20-38) from the floor against No. 9/11 Tennessee in the Paradise Jam opener on Nov. 20.
• Head coach Mack McCarthy is in his third season steering the Pirates' ship. ECU has increased its win total and place in the final C-USA standings each year under McCarthy.
HOUSTON (1-1)
• Next Game: Nov. 26 vs. (25) Oklahoma - 10:30 p.m. CT (CSS)
• Senior guard Aubrey Coleman averaged 32.5 ppg in the Cougars' first two games of the season. Coleman became only the third player in school history to post back-to-back 30-point games to open the season, joining Houston legends Elvin Hayes and Otis Birdsong.
• Coleman and classmate Kelvin Lewis, both Preseason All-Conference USA selections and the top two returning scorers in the league from a year ago, combined for 51 points against Nicholls State on Nov. 17. Lewis now has 1,018 for career points and he needs just 53 more points for 1,000 as a Cougar.
• Junior guard Adam Brown provided a tremendous spark off the bench at Nevada with 25 points on 9-of-12 shooting, including five 3-pointers, and six steals. He scored 12 of his game-high 25 points during a nine-minute run that saw the Cougars turn a 26-point second half deficit into a sx-point margin.
MARSHALL (2-1)
• Next Game: Nov. 25 vs. Lamar - 7 p.m. ET
• In a game which featured 14 lead changes and three ties, sophomore Damier Pitts went 6-for-6 from the free throw line in the final 4:34 of the game to lead Marshall past Middle Tennessee State, 63-60, on Nov. 17. He is now 36-38 in the final five minutes of a game from the free-throw line for his career.
• Pitts, who suffered a concussion in practice earlier this month, was only cleared to play by the Marshall medical staff the Monday before the game. He came off the bench at Old Dominion Saturday and scored 12 of a team-high 14 points in the second half, and dished out four assists, but the Thundering Herd dropped a 70-62 decision to ODU.
• Senior Tyler Wilkerson tallied 12 points and seven rebounds against ODU. Wilkerson pulled down a career-high 20 rebounds in the season opener. His 20 boards were the most in a game for a MU player since Jan. 18, 1986 when Rodney Holden grabbed 20 against The Citadel. Wilkerson missed the final 10 games last season due to a broken jaw.
MEMPHIS (2-1)
• Next Game: TONIGHT vs. Central Arkansas - 7 p.m. CT
• Sophomore Elliot Williams led the Tigers in scoring for the third-straight game with a career-high 23 points in a 92-59 win over Tennessee Tech Friday.
• Senior Doneal Mack added 20 points against Tennessee Tech as Memphis won its 17th in a row at FedExForum. Junior forward Will Coleman earned his first start of the season Friday and scored eight points to go along with nine rebounds in 22 minutes.
• Both games were part of the Hall of Fame Classic. The Kansas game was played in St. Louis, while Memphis hosted Tennessee Tech.
• Josh Pastner picked up a double win in his debut as the Memphis head coach. The Tigers' defeated Jackson State, 82-53, on Nov. 13 and Pastner signed one of the top recruiting class in the nation.
• Memphis announced that WKNO/Comcast Channel 10 picked up six Tiger games and a total of 25 games are now scheduled to be televised.
RICE (3-1)
• Next Game: TONIGHT vs. Furman - 7 p.m. CT
• Freshman Arsalan Kazemi came off the bench Thursday night against Arizona to record his first collegiate double-double. Kazemi, the first Iranian-born player in NCAA Division I basketball, scored a team-high 13 points and grabbed 10 rebounds against the Wildcats.
• The Owls hit 11-of-12 free throws in the game and currently rank first in C-USA for free-throw percentage.
• Sophomore guard Connor Frizzelle was named Most Valuable Player of the Rice Basketball Challenge as the Owls jumped out to a 3-0 start to the season. Frizzelle averaged 14.7 ppg, connecting on 10-of-14 three-point attempts, and 3.3 apg.
• Freshman Tamir Jackson was also named to the all-tournament team, averaging 10.3 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.7 assists in the first three games of his collegiate career. He scored a team-high 18 points in the Owls' 71-69 win over South Alabama.
SMU (2-2)
• Next Game: Dec. 2 vs. TCU - 7:30 p.m. CT
• Senior guard Derek Williams scored a team-high 18 points as the Mustangs evened their record with a 69-65 win against Huston-Tillotson Monday night. Junior Papa Dia registered his fourth career double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds.
• Senior forward Mouhammad Faye and sophomore guard Paul McCoy each scored 18 points as SMU defeated Florida Gulf Coast, 79-62, at Moody Coliseum for the Mustangs first win of the season.
• McCoy also added a career-high eight rebounds. Last season, he became the first freshman to lead the team in scoring (13.4 ppg.) in school history.
• Sophomore Justin Haynes added a career-high 17 points off the bench for SMU. The Mustangs shot 60 percent (15-of-25) in the second half against Florida Gulf Coast.
• The Mustangs open the season with six-straight home games.
SOUTHERN MISS (3-0)
• Next Game: TONIGHT vs. William Carey - 7 p.m. CT
• Southern Miss connected on seven free throws down the stretch to rally from a double-digit deficit and defeat Montana State, 66-62.
• Junior forward Gary Flowers led the Golden Eagles at Montana State with a game-high 18 points, including five straight free throws at the end of the game, while also grabbing five rebounds.
• Sophomore Maurice Bolden has registered two double-doubles so far in a Golden Eagle uniform. He scored 29 points (16-of-17 free throws) and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead his team to a 73-62 win over Loyola New Orleans on Nov. 17. He also registered a double-double with 16 points and 10 boards in his Southern Miss debut Nov. 14.
• Head Coach Larry Eustachy enters his sixth season as the leader of the Southern Miss basketball program and needs just 12 victories to record his 350th career win.
TULANE (1-3)
• Next Game: Nov. 28 vs. George Mason - 2:00 p.m. CT
• Senior guard Kevin Sims moved up two spots on Tulane's career assist list during the week, passing both Brandon Spann and LeVeldro Simmons and now sits in sixth-place with 354. Sims also moved into 10th-place on Tulane's career minutes played (3,158).
• Sims hit a 3-pointer with 20 seconds to play and the Green Wave defeated Penn State, 63-60, for the first win of the season.
• Junior Aaron Holmes led Tulane with 17 points, including 11 in the second half. Junior guard Kris Richard finished with 14 points and Sims had 11.
• Sims and Richard both had a shot in the final seconds, but Tulane dropped a 61-59 decision to LaSalle in Sunday's final day of the Charleston Classic. Richard finished with a game-high 17 points, including four 3-pointers. Holmes added 11 points, seven rebounds and collected two blocked shots.
TULSA (4-0)
• Next Game: TONIGHT vs. Loyola Marymount - 7 p.m. CT
• Tulsa improved to 4-0 on the season as senior C Jerome Jordan scored 23 points to lead the Golden Hurricane to an 84-62 win over South Alabama Saturday.
• With the victory, TU improved its win streak at the Reynolds Center to 12 in a row.
• Junior G Justin Hurtt added a career-high 21 points for TU against South Alabama. Sophomore F Stephen Idlet had his first career double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds. Idlet scored a career-high 15 points in the season opener.
• Jordan also scored 19 points and grabbed nine rebounds (just one board shy of his 19th career double-double) to pace TU to a 59-45 victory over Arkansas-Little Rock in a matinee game played Nov. 17 as part of ESPN's College Hoops Tip-Off Marathon. Jordan also reached the 1,000 Point Club in that game.
UAB (4-1)
• Next Game: TONIGHT vs. Troy - 7:00 p.m. CT
• Senior forward Howard Crawford scored 17 of his career-high 21 points in the second half to help the Blazers defeat Georgia, 72-56. Junior guard Jamarr Sanders had a career-best 16 points, while Elijah Millsap added 14 as UAB earned its third-straight victory.
• The win marked the Blazers first victory over an SEC team at Bartow Arena since they defeated Auburn, 64-57, on Nov. 22, 1996.
• Millsap posted his second double-double in the young season with 18 points and 11 rebounds in an 87-62 road win at Jacksonville State on Nov. 17.
• The Blazers finished in a tie for first place at the Hispanic College Fund Classic. UAB finished the three-day event with a 2-1 record, posting wins over Green Bay and Samford. The lone loss came to tournament host Kent State. Millsap and Crawford were both named to the all-tournament team, averaging 16.7 and 14.3 ppg, respectively.
UCF (4-1)
• Next Game: Nov. 28 vs. Albany - 5 p.m. ET
• Sophomore guard A.J. Rompza and junior forward A.J. Tyler earned Glenn Wilkes Classic All-Tournament honors after UCF topped Howard, Auburn and Drake.
• Tyler scored a career-high 19 points in Friday's 84-74 win over Auburn as UCF improved to 3-0 on the season. Rompza averaged 7.0 points and 4.3 rebounds in Daytona. The point guard had 11 points and five assists in the victory over Auburn.
• Freshman F Dave Diakite posted his second-straight double-double with 12 points and 10 boards against the Tigers. UCF shot 52.1 percent overall for the contest, and led by as many as 21 points in the second half.
• UCF limited Drake to zero points in the final 6:08 of the second half as the Knights went on to win, 59-50, Sunday.
• Head coach Kirk Speraw registered his 350th career win with the 59-50 victory over Drake.
UTEP (3-0)
• Next Game: Nov. 25 vs. North Carolina A&T - 7:05 p.m. MT
• UTEP big men Arnett Moultrie and Claude Britten each established career-highs in scoring as the Miners improved their record to 3-0 with an 82-56 rout of Arkansas State Saturday night. Moultrie poured in 25 points on 11-for-16 shooting, and Britten tallied 19 points.
• UTEP is off to its first 3-0 start since the 2004-05 team also won its first three games on the way to a 27-8 mark and a NCAA berth.
• Junior point guard Julyan Stone had another well-rounded game Saturday with 10 points, seven rebounds, eight assists and two steals. After three games, he has an impressive 11.0 assist-to-turnover ratio.
• Arnett Moultrie averaged 8.8 ppg and 8.2 rpg (fifth nationally among freshmen) and made 34 starts last season. Moultrie pulled down 18 rebounds at Houston (1/28) to tie the UTEP single-game freshman record. Moultrie was one of 12 players selected to the USA U19 World Championship Team, which competed July 2-12 in Auckland, New Zealand and won the Gold Medal.
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