PROVIDENCE, R.I. - There are now just 11 regular season games left on the American Athletic Conference men's basketball schedule. UConn, Temple, Wichita State and Tulsa all earned important Sunday victories as first round byes and seeding are decided. The Huskies held off USF at Gampel Pavilion, while Temple and Tulsa also earned home wins over Tulane and ECU, respectively. Wichita State went on the road and got a win at SMU for its seventh win in the past nine games.
Sunday, March 3
UConn 60, USF 58
Back on campus for the first time since late January, UConn avenged its conference-opening loss, getting out a 60-58 victory over the USF Bulls Sunday afternoon at Gampel Pavilion. UConn improves to 14-15, 5-11 on the season, while USF drops to 18-11, 7-9.
Sophomore Josh Carlton paced the Huskies with team-highs of 16 points, nine rebounds and three assists, with classmate Alterique Gilbert also finishing in double figures with 15 points. The conference matchup featured 10 ties and 28 lead changes.
David Collins led the way for USF with a game-high 17 points as he went 11-of-13 from the free throw line but missed one of three attempts in the closing seconds as he was fouled on a three-pointer on a chance to tie the game.
Carlton sparked the Huskies early, scoring seven of the first nine points and helping UConn to an 11-6 lead after eight minutes.
The Huskies led by as many as nine in the opening period, but a USF run enabled the visitors to surge back and take a brief three-point lead. UConn would head into the locker room with a 28-27 halftime lead though, thanks to a layup from Isaiah Whaley and a pair of Tyler Polley free throws.
UConn led by as many as seven points midway through the second half, but USF fought back with a 9-0 run to take a brief 48-46 lead after Laquincy Rideau buried a triple in transition.
The final six minutes of regulation turned into a grind-it-out affair consisting of four ties and three lead changes.
UConn took the lead for good after Alterique Gilbert made a runner in the paint with 48 seconds left, and made enough shots at the charity stripe to hold off the Bulls and leave Gampel with a two-point win.
Temple 80, Tulane 69
Quinton Rose scored a career-high 29 points while Shizz Alston, Jr. added 22 as Temple took down Tulane, 80-69 to give Hooter the Owl a win on his birthday for the 13th time in 14 years. The Owls (21-8, 11-5) led by as many as 21 points early in the second half, and by at least 10 points for all but 15 seconds from that point on.
Temple forced 14 turnovers on Tulane (4-24, 0-16), and finished with a 21-8 edge in points off turnovers.
The Green Wave had a significant advantage on the glass with 49 rebounds to the Owls' 35, but Temple's 47 percent shooting (compared to Tulane's 37.7 percent) was enough to stay in the lead.
Temple had a 13-point, 43-30 lead at halftime after a 7-0 run and then scored the first eight points of the second half.
Rose scored 17 of his game and career-high 29 points in the second half, at one stretch scoring seven straight points for the Owls.
Alston had quite a game, adding eight assists to his 22 points to become just the eighth player in program history to top 400 assists, now with 402. Alston also hit two three-pointers to make it a program-record 40 straight games with at least one made three.
For the season, Alston now has 85 three-pointers to rank ninth all-time in a single season.
Damion Moore tied his season high with 10 points, making his first four attempts from the field and hitting 5-of-6 overall.
Tulane was led by Samir Sehic, who put up his ninth double-double of the season on 24 points and 11 rebounds. He shot 10-of-16 from the field and 3-of-5 from downtown.
Wichita State 67, SMU 55
Markis McDuffie scored 15 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead Wichita State to a 67-55 victory at SMU on Sunday afternoon inside Moody Coliseum.
WSU (15-13, 8-8) has won seven of its last nine games following a 1-6 start to American Athletic Conference play. The Shockers are the first team in conference history to reach the eight-win mark after opening 1-6 or worse. Helped by USF's loss earlier in the day, WSU now owns sole possession of the sixth-place in the league standings.
McDuffie tied Jamie Thompson for 16th on WSU's career scoring list (1,359 points) and connected on his first three-point attempt to match Fred VanVleet for 10th-place on the school's all-time three-point field goal chart (141).
Jaime Echenique added eight points on 4-of-5 shooting to go with six rebounds and a block. He's swatted at least one shot in 13-straight games, breaking Shaquille Morris' Marshall Era mark. It's the longest block streak by a Shocker since Antoine Carr's 25-gamer in 1983.
Dexter Dennis scored 10 of his 12 points in the first half to help the Shockers pull away and added seven rebounds. He's reached double-figures in four of the last five games after doing so just four times in the first 23 games of the season.
Jamarius Burton finished with 10 points, five assists and one turnover. It was his fourth-straight game with at least five assists. The freshman has an impressive 29-to-6 ratio (4.83) over that span.
Erik Stevenson dished out a career-high six assists in 15 minutes.
WSU never trailed. An 11-0 run stretched an 11-10 lead to 22-10 near the midway point of the first half. Another 10-0 spurt before halftime stretched the lead to as many as 17.
The Shockers built on their 41-27 halftime advantage, despite a dip in shooting. They hit just 27 percent in the second half after connecting on 53 percent in the first 20 minutes.
SMU (13-15, 5-11) shot just 36.5 percent for the day. The Mustangs were a chilly 1-of-15 from three in the second half and just 3-of-26 for the game.
WSU out-rebounded SMU 40-35. The Shockers posted 17 assists on 25 baskets and committed just 10 turnovers.
Burton's 93 assists this year are third-most all-time by a Shocker true freshman. Only Joe Griffin (125 in 1987) and Bob Trogele (103 in 1976) have had more.
WSU has won three of its last four true road games following an 0-6 start.
Tulsa 91, ECU 78
Curran Scott scored a season-high 23 points and Tulsa shot a season-high 59.3-percent on its way to a 91-78 victory over ECU in the final regular-season game at the Reynolds Center this season.
Scott went 8-of-12 from the floor and hit three 3-pointers for the Golden Hurricane (18-12, 8-9). He was joined in double-figures by Martins Igbanu (19 points) and Jeriah Horne (17 points) and Tulsa logged 20 assists on its 32 made baskets.
The Hurricane also scored 36 points in the paint and outrebounded the Pirates (10-18, 3-13), 37-30.
ECU was paced by Isaac Fleming, who neared a triple-double with 20 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds. The Pirates shot 44.3-percent in the game and scored 19 points off 14 offensive rebounds.
The Pirates had the lead in the early minutes until the Hurricane went on a 14-4 run that saw all six of its baskets come in the paint. Elijah Joiner got the run started with a layup before two buckets inside from Darien Jackson. DaQuan Jeffries also scored twice down low and Scott capped the spurt with a three-point play.
ECU would trim the TU lead to a point on three occasions, but the Hurricane answered each time. Tulsa closed the half on a 12-4 run that included 3-pointers from Scott and Lawson Korita for a 45-36 halftime lead.
TU scored the first four points of the second half for a double-digit advantage and the lead was at least eight points the entire period. Horne hit three treys in the period and a bucket from Igbanu with 7:13 to play gave Tulsa its largest lead of the day, 76-58.
The Pirates were able to trim the deficit to 10, but Tulsa took care of business at the free throw line to secure the 91-78 victory.
UPCOMING GAMES
| TUESDAY 3.5.19 |
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ECU |
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Wichita State |
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9 p.m. |
Wichita, Kan. |
Live Stats Live Video
TV:CBSSN |
| WEDNESDAY 3.6.19 |
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USF |
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Tulane |
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8 p.m. |
New Orleans, La. |
Live Stats Live Video
TV:ESPN3 |
| THURSDAY 3.7.19 |
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Cincinnati |
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UCF |
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7 p.m. |
Orlando, Fla. |
Live Stats Live Video
TV:ESPN2 |
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Temple |
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UConn |
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7 p.m. |
Hartford, Conn. |
Live Stats Live Video
TV:CBSSN |
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SMU |
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Houston |
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9 p.m. |
Houston, Texas |
Live Stats Live Video
TV:ESPN |
| SATURDAY 3.9.19 |
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UCF |
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Temple |
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4 p.m. |
Philadelphia, Pa. |
Live Stats Live Video
TV:ESPN2 |
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Wichita State |
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Tulane |
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8:30 p.m. |
New Orleans, La. |
Live Stats Live Video
TV:CBSSN |
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Tulsa |
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Memphis |
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9:30 p.m. |
Memphis, Tenn. |
Live Stats Live Video
TV:ESPNU |
| SUNDAY 3.10.19 |
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Houston |
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Cincinnati |
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Noon |
Cincinnati, Ohio |
Live Stats Live Video
TV:CBS |
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UConn |
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ECU |
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2 p.m. |
Greenville, N.C. |
Live Stats Live Video
TV:ESPNU |
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SMU |
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USF |
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4 p.m. |
Tampa, Fla. |
Live Stats Live Video
TV:ESPNU |