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Coogs a 13 Seed -- w/ video (still no picture thumbnail)

The last time the Houston Cougars were in the NCAA Tournament I was a sophomore at the University of Houston.

That was 1992.

After defeating Texas El-Paso on Saturday to earn the automatic bid to the NCAA Championship as the C-USA Champs, Sunday evening the Cougars learned they will be the 13th seed in the Midwest (St. Louis) Region.

The Coogs will play their opening round game in Spokane, WA, versus the 4th-seed...the Maryland Terrapins, Friday, March 19.

Check out the reaction of the team when the announcement is made. Wait for it. Wait for it.

Wait for it...

Coogs win C-USA and headed to the Big Dance

The Houston Cougars pulled off the improbable and defeated #1-seed Texas-El Paso 81-73 in the final game of the Conference USA Championship Saturday afternoon. Houston senior Kelvin Lewis scored a game-high 28 points (11-15 from the field including 6 for 10 from three-point range).

The win is improbable because the Cougars won for the fourth time in four straight days. The Cougars did not four consecutive games during the regular season.

With the win, the Cougars earn the automatic bid to the NCAA Championship as the C-USA Champion. The Cougars return to NCAA's "Big Dance" for the first time since 1992.

The Cougars will learn their seed; first round opponent; and location of the game tomorrow, around 5 p.m. CDT, when the "Field of 65" is announced.

Update on Area Teams in Conference Tournaments

UPDATED, 3/13/10, 11:12 p.m. -- UH wins C-USA. Sam Houston State wins Southland Conference.
TSU and HBU lose in respective conference finals Saturday night.

Here's an update on how the college teams in and around Houston have done thus far in their respective conference championships.

March 11, the Rice Owls led the Tulsa Golden Hurricane at halftime; but, could not hold on in the second half as Tulsa defeated the Owls, 73-62, in a first round game of the 2010 C-USA Championship.

The Houston Cougars defeated East Carolina Wednesday afternoon, 93-80, in a first round game; then, the Cougars topped 2nd-seed Memphis, 66-65, to advance to the semifinals of the C-USA Championship. UH (7th-seed) defeated 6th-seed Southern Miss, 74-66, March 12.

The Cougars won the C-USA Championship and earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament Saturday with an 81-73 victory over top-seed Texas-El Paso.

Houston Baptist University defeated 7th-seed Chicago State, 80-77, Wednesday night in a first round game of the inaugural Great West Conference Championship. The Huskies defeated NJIT, 74-64, March 12, in the second semifinal game.

The Huskies were defeated by #1-seed South Dakota, 91-86, Saturday night. South Dakota receives the automatic bid in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament.

Sam Houston State edged 8th-seed Nicholls, 62-57, Wednesday, in a quarterfinal game of the Southland Conference Championship. The top-seeded Bearkats defeated 4th-seed Southeastern Louisiana, 88-85, March 11, in the second semifinal matchup.

The Bearkats rolled past #2-seed Stephen F. Austin, 64-48, Saturday afternoon to earn the Southland Conference's automatic berth in the Men's NCAA Championship.

The Texas A&M Aggies beat 12th-seed Nebraska, 70-64, in a quarterfinal game of the Big 12 Championship. The Aggies lost to #1 Kansas, 79-66, March 12. 

Prairie View A&M was blasted by rival Texas Southern, 66-49, in the final quarterfinal game of the SWAC Championship.

TSU defeated 8th-seed Grambling State, 60-57, March 12. 

The Tigers lost to Arkansas-Pine Bluff Saturday evening, 50-38, in the SWAC Championship game.

SWAC Quarterfinals available on SWAC.org

BOSSIER CITY, LA - The Southwestern Athletic Conference will video stream the first two days of the Farmers Insurance SWAC Basketball Tournament live free of charge at http://www.swac.org/.

All eight quarterfinal games (four women's, four men's) will be streamed live on the official Conference website. Audio will be provided by the Heritage Sports Radio Network (HSRN), which will do a live national radio broadcast of all 14 tournament games at http://www.hsrn.com/.

"We are excited to bring the quarterfinals of the 2010 Farmers Insurance SWAC Basketball Tournament live to our fans via www.swac.org," SWAC Commissioner Duer Sharp said. "We have great matchups to kick off this year's tournament with a host of rivalry games in the opening round in an outstanding facility. Our great fans around the country who can't make it to Shreveport / Bossier City can catch all the action live on their computer."

The CenturyTel Center is the new home for the Farmers Insurance SWAC Tournament, which kicks off Wednesday at Noon with #2 seed Prairie View A&M taking on #7 seed Alabama St. in women's action.

ESPNU will broadcast the SWAC Championship game Saturday, March 13, at 7:30 p.m. CST.

Quarterfinal games - all streamed live at http://www.swac.org/

Wednesday, March 10
2:30 p.m. -- #2 Univ. Arkansas-Pine Bluff vs. #7 Miss. Valley St.
8 p.m. -- #1 Jackson St. vs. #8 Grambling St.

Thursday, March 11
2:30 p.m. -- #3 Alabama St. vs. #6 Alabama A&M
8 p.m. -- #4 Prairie View A&M vs. #5 Texas Southern

Sam Houston State's Clavell and Coach Marlin Earn SLC Honors

Sam Houston State's 14-2 regular-season conference record (in the Southland Conference) earned the team the number one seed in the Southland Conference Championship as well as some top notch individual honors.

Gilberto Clavell, junior forward, was named the Southland Conference Newcomer of the Year. Head coach Bob Marlin earned conference Coach of the Year honors; and, in addition to Clavell, two other Bearkats (senior guards Ashton Mitchell and Corey Almond) were named to the All-Southland Conference First Team.

Clavell not only helped Sam Houston State win its third regular-season conference championship, but also helped it reach the Southland tournament for the eighth consecutive season as well. The junior from Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, averaged 16.9 points and 6.5 rebounds per game to lead the Bearkats. Clavell, a transfer from Collin County Community College, paced the Bearkats in scoring 13 times this season and had 11 20-point games. He topped 30 points three times, scoring 34 in a win at Auburn in December and a season-high 35 in the regular-season finale against Texas State.

Marlin earned his third coach of the year honor after guiding Sam Houston State to its third regular-season conference championship. Now in his 12th season in Huntsville, he also was voted coach of the year in 2000 and 2003 after guiding the Bearkats to regular-season championships, as well. With a 22-7 overall record, Sam Houston State is one of 51 programs in the country to have won at least 20 games in four of the last five seasons. Marlin is 222-130 with the Bearkats and has a 16-year career record of 345-165.

The 2010 State Farm Southland Conference Basketball Tournament will be played this week at the Leonard E. Merrell Center. Four men's quarterfinal games will be played Wednesday beginning at noon with semifinal games Thursday at 6:05 p.m. and approximately 8:33 p.m. The championship game will be played Saturday at 3:05 p.m. and televised on ESPN2.

The complete list of the All-Southland Conference Teams and the individual award winners is posted here.

Houston's Aubrey Coleman Named to C-USA All-Conference First Team

Houston senior guard Aubrey Coleman has been a bright spot in a mediocre season for the Cougars; and, because of his efforts during the 2009-2010 regular season, Coleman was named to Conference USA All-Conference First Team.

Coleman leads the Cougars, Conference USA and the nation with 26.0 points per game. He has posted nine 30-point games, including a career-high-tying 38-point effort at Tulane on Saturday during the regular-season finale, and is tied for fourth in Houston history with 12 30-point games during his career.

He already ranks 15th on the school's career scoring chart with 1,400 points in only 62 games and needs only 36 more points to become the greatest two-year scorer in Houston history.

Although known for his offensive prowess, Coleman also is a leader on the defensive side of the court. He leads the league and ranks second in the country with 2.7 steals per game and tops the Cougars with 7.5 rebounds per game, good enough to rank eighth in the league.

Four other guards joined AC on the First Team: senior Ben Uzoh of Tulsa; juniors Elijah Millsap of UAB and Randy Culpepper of UTEP, and sophomore Elliot Williams of Memphis.

Here's the entire list:

2009-10 ALL-CONFERENCE USA FIRST TEAM
Aubrey Coleman, Houston, G, 6-4, 200, Sr., Houston, Texas
Randy Culpepper, UTEP, G, Jr., 6-0, 165, Jr., Memphis, Tenn.
Elijah Millsap, UAB, G, Jr., 6-6, 211, Grambling, La.
Ben Uzoh, Tulsa, G, 6-3, 200, Sr., San Antonio, Texas
Elliot Williams, Memphis, G, 6-5, 180, So., Memphis, Tenn.

2009-10 ALL-CONFERENCE USA SECOND TEAM
Derrick Caracter, UTEP, F, 6-9, 275, Jr., Fanwood, N.J.
Gary Flowers, Southern Miss, F, 6-8, 214, Jr., Dallas, Texas
Jerome Jordan, Tulsa, C, 7-0, 245, Sr., Kingston, Jamaica
Hassan Whiteside, Marshall, F, 6-11, 235, Fr., Gastonia, N.C.
Tyler Wilkerson, Marshall, F, 6-8, 240, Sr., Lexington, Ky.

2009-10 ALL-CONFERENCE USA THIRD TEAM
Papa Dia, SMU, F, 6-9, 235, Jr., St. Louis, Senegal
Aaron Johnson, UAB, G, 5-8, 175, Jr., Chicago, Ill.
Derek Williams, SMU, G, 6-1, 170, Sr., Jamaica, N.Y.
Wesley Witherspoon, Memphis, F/G, 6-9, 210, So., Atlanta, Ga.
Brock Young, East Carolina, G, 5-11, 175, Jr., Raleigh, N.C. 

Area teams set for conference Championships

UPDATED -- 3/9/10, 9:57 A.M.

Championship Week has been in full swing across the country for a few days; however, for the teams in Houston and the surrounding area, Championship Week starts Wednesday, March 10, as the Houston Cougars (the number 7-seed) will play East Carolina (10th seed) at noon in the first game of the 2010 C-USA Championship in Tulsa, OK.

The Sam Houston State Bearkats (top seed) will play 8th seed Nicholls Wednesday, March 10, at 6 p.m. in the 2010 Southland Conference Championship at the Merrell Center located in Katy, TX.

The Rice Owls (12th seed) face the Tulsa Golden Hurricane (5th seed) Wednesday, March 10, at 6 p.m. in another opening round of the 2010 C-USA Championship.

The Texas A&M Aggies (4th seed) will play the winner of the Missouri (5th seed) / Nebraska (12th seed) game on Thursday, March 11, at 2 p.m. in a quarterfinal matchup in the 2010 Big 12 Championship taking place in Kansas City, MO.

The Prairie View A&M Panthers (4th seed) will play Texas Southern (5th-seed) Thursday, March 11, at 8 p.m., in Bossier City, LA, in the quarterfinals of the 2010 Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) Championship Tournament. (This game will be third meeting between the two teams this season. PV won the previous to match-ups by five points each game.)

The Houston Baptist University Huskies (2nd seed) will face Chicago State (7th seed), Wednesday, March 10, at 6pm, in the 2010 Great West Conference Basketball Championship in Orem, UT.

All-Big 12 Awards Announced

Oklahoma State standout James Anderson has been named Big 12 Player of the Year and leads the 2010 edition of the All-Big 12 Men's Basketball honors, it was announced. Cole Aldrich (Kansas) earned Defensive Player of the Year recognition for the second straight season, while Ekpe Udoh (Baylor) is the top newcomer. Alec Burks (Colorado) is the Freshman of the Year, while Jamar Samuels (Kansas State) earns the Sixth Man Award. Samuels’ coach, Frank Martin, is the Big 12 Coach of the Year.

The entire list of the announced awards (including All-Big First, Second, and Third Team; All-Rookie; All-Defense) is found here.

Owls lose to UCF on Senior Day

HOUSTON, TX -- The Rice Owls forced the UCF Knights to commit 22 turnovers thanks to picking up 16 steals; however, the Owls still lost to UCF 66-59 in front of an announced crowd of 1,899 fans gathered inside Tudor Fieldhouse on Senior day.

Rice (8-20 overall, 1-15 in C-USA) shot 11 for 26 from the free throw line. Yes, that's correct. 11 for 26.

"How do I not talk about today's game without looking at the free throw stat," said Ben Braun, Owls head coach. "You know it's unfortunate because if we make our free throws, or convert even half or a little bit more, we have a chance, really a pretty good chance to win this game. It's frustrating because we worked hard to get the line; and, we don't pake UCF (14-16, 6-10) pay. You gotta make teams pay. It's frustrating because I know our guys are good free throw shooters."

The Owls brickfest from the foul line started in the first half with a 6 for 17 performance in the opening 20 minutes. Rice trailed UCF 32-25 at halftime.

Despite allowing UCF to shoot 63.2% (12 for 19) from the field in the first half and the poor foul shooting, the Owls stayed close because they forced the Knights to turn the ball over 15 times.

Connor Frizzelle, sophomore guard, scored 11 points (4 for 9 from the field including 2 for 4 on three-point shots) in the opening half; however, Frizzelle contributed to the woes from the foul line by making just 2 of his 4 attempts.

"Personally, shooting them, you shoot it and I felt good about it and it doesn't go in," Frizzelle said after the game. "You just feel like 'man'; so, everybody on the team is like 'well at least hit one of them'. When you're not shooting them and you see it, you're like 'man'. It's just a missed opportunity."

Trailing 38-30 early in the second half, Owls senior forward Cliff Ghoram scored four straight points to kick start a 12 to 3 run to give Rice its first lead of the ball game at 42-41 with 11:32 remaining in the ball game.

UCF's Marcus Jordan quickly drained a three-point bucket to put the Knights in front once again. The Knights stretched the lead to six points (50-44) before Frizzelle converted a three-point play to cut the Owls' deficit in half.

Three minutes later, Ghoram drained a jump shot to tie the game at 52 with 6:51 remaining.

The Owls went ahead (57-55) on a steal and fast-break dunk by freshman forward Arsalan Kazemi at the 4:04 mark; however, a missed assignment left UCF's Taylor Young wide open and Young drained a three-point bucket for a one point UCF lead (58-57).

"I'll take blame for the breakdown," said Ghoram. "I was supposed to trap. Help trap up top. That was the assignment. I had a breakdown where I went under the screen; and, they rotated and knocked down the open shot. We had a couple missed assignments. Little things we could have done better. If we would have shot our free throws better, we could have made the game easier for us."

Frizzelle added, "Everybody has missed assignments. I did. I think that's just the game of basketball. Everybody messes up. It's just how you react. It just so happened that ours happened at the end of the game; but, I think, overall, our defensive intensity and the way we played was aggressive. We were actually in to the game. We were trying to 'd' up. I felt like everybody was trying to play as hard as they could."

Frizzelle scored a layup after picking off a bad pass and tied the game at 62; but, once again, the Knights answered.

UCF's sophomore guard A.J. Rompza splashed a three-point bucket with 1:09 on the clock to give the Knights the lead for good.

Frizzelle scored a game-high 19 points for the Owls and Ghoram added 13 points in his final Rice Owls' home game.

"It was a proud feeling to have my parents here (today)," Ghoram concluded.

Big 12 Awards Announcement

From the Big12:

The official 2009-10 All-Big 12 Men's Basketball honors will be released INDIVIDUALLY on Big12Sports.com in 10-minute increments on Sunday, March 7, beginning at 11:00 a.m. CST.

Schedule of 2009-10 All-Big 12 Men’s Basketball Awards

(All Times Central)

11:00 a.m. ---- Coach of the Year
11:10 a.m. ---- Newcomer of the Year
11:20 a.m. ---- Sixth Man of the Year
11:30 a.m. ---- Freshman of the Year
11:40 a.m. ---- Defensive Player of the Year
11:50 a.m. ---- Player of the Year
12:00 p.m. ---- All-Rookie Team
12:10 p.m. ---- All-Defensive Team
12:20 p.m. ---- All-Big 12 First, Second, Third and Honorable Mention Teams

UH's Tom Penders after Coogs Beat Rice - with Video

HOUSTON, TX -- The Houston Cougars defeated the Rice Owls 78-70 Wednesday night in front of 3456 fans. Some UH fans may be surprised or disappointed in the narrow margin of victory; but, when you're under .500 in conference, a win is a win.

The Cougars improve to 15-14 overall and 7-8 in C-USA.

The Cougars led the Owls 39-31 at halftime thanks to UH's committing nine first half turnovers. The Owls (8-21, 1-14) shot just 29.0% (9 for 31) from the field and turned the ball over nine times.

The Cougars stretched the lead to 14 points (60-46) with 12:36 left in the second half; however, missed shots; long rebounds; and poor transition defense enabled the Owls to capitalize and go on a 17-2 run to take a 63-62 lead with 7:33 on the game clock.

Houston senior Kelvin Lewis made a three-point shot to give the lead back to the Cougars (65-63); then, the Cougars cranked up the defense which helped them finish the game with 13-7 run and pull out the eight point victory.

After the game, Houston head coach Tom Penders said, "It was the kind of game I expected in terms of competitiveness. I thought we were a little loose with the ball. We made nine turnovers at halftime which is something like what we're averaging.

"Rice did a great job. I knew they would. They gave us a lot of problems with their smaller line up. They used a lot more speed than they did the first time that we played them; so, we had a lot more trouble getting dribble penetration on them we got quite easily the first time we played.

"You know you were going to the get their best game. It was the kind of game that I expected."

The Cougars close out the regular season Saturday evening with a road game versus Tulane. Tip is set for 7 p.m.

Seniors Lead Cougars to win over Rice - with Video

HOUSTON, TX -- Wednesday night inside Hofheinz Pavilion was "Senior Night" for Aubrey Coleman, Sean Coleman and Kelvin Lewis and the three of them combined to lead the Cougars to a 78-70 victory over crosstown rival Rice in front of an announced crowd of 3546 fans.

A.C. scored a game-high 18 points and added nine rebounds. Sean Coleman scored a career-high 12 points (4 for 6 from the field including 2 for 4 on threes); and Kelvin Lewis added 16 points on 5 for 13 shooting.

Kelvin Lewis said winning on Senior Night "feels good. It feels good to beat Rice - that's our rival; but, we just took at is another game to get ready for the conference tournament. We got it done. We were a little sluggish; but, we got it done; so, we're good."

The Cougars led the Owls 60-46 before the Owls erupted for a 17-2 scoring run to lead 63-62 with 7:33 left in the second half.

Lewis splashed in a three-point shot to put the Cougars ahead 65-63; then, three minutes and 42 seconds later, Aubrey Coleman swished a tough three-point shot from the corner to give the Cougars a seven point lead and a cushion for the victory.

Sean Coleman said the key to erasing the Owls' lead was he and his teammates kept their composure.

"We tried to maintain our poise and pull out the victory. It was a battle and we did a good job responding."

Rockets Trounce Toronto

HOUSTON, TX -- The Houston Rockets did to the Toronto Raptors Monday night what the Utah Jazz did to them Saturday night -- light up the opponent. The Rockets roasted the Raptors 116-92 in front of an announced crowd of 13,943 fans.

Houston (30-29) made its first 10 shots of the ball game and never looked back.

Toronto (31-28) was already without All-Star forward Chris Bosh (sprained ankle) and point guard Jose Calderon (elbow); the, forward Hedo Turkoglu sprained his left ankle in the second quarter and was done for the ball game.

"Obviously, we're really pleased with the way we approached the game," said Rockets head coach Rick Adelman. "That team was short-handed. We shot it (the ball) well. We moved it (the ball) well. After the first quarter, in the second and third quarter, we defended pretty well. We did what we wanted to do.

"It's a game that we needed to get. Now, we have to try and build on it this Wednesday."

Despite the scorching shooting to start the game, the Rockets led the Raptors by just nine points (37-28) at the end of the first period.

The Raptors pulled within four points (39-35) early in the second quarter; however, David Andersen drained two jump shots and Kevin Martin splashed in a three-point shot to help the Rockets take an eleven point lead (52-41) at the 6:04 mark of the period.

The Rockets blew the game wide open with a 16 to 4 finishing kick to lead by 21 points (68-47) at halftime.

"The end of the second quarter was terrific," Adelman added.

Kevin Martin and Aaron Brooks each scored 28 points. Martin shot 9 for 16 from the field (5 for 8 on threes) while Brooks shot 11 for 16 (4 for 9 on threes).

"When they're making shots like that, it really opens the court for everybody else," Adelman said about his high scoring backcourt duo. "So, we just have to keep working at it. The key for them is they have to do the job at the other end (defensively)."

The Rockets kept the proverbial "foot on the gas" in the third quarter and outscored the Raptors 28 to 19 and made the fourth quarter extended garbage time.

"We pretty much put the game over in the third quarter that way we didn't have to worry about the fourth," said Aaron Brooks.

The Rockets collected 33 assists on 41 made baskets and shot 51.3% (41 for 80) including an astounding 52.0% (13 for 25) from the Land of Three.

Chuck Hayes dished out a career-high eight assists. Yes, Chuck Hayes.

The Rockets will look to start a two-game winning streak this Wednesday versus former Rockets' fan favorite Carl Landry and the Sacramento Kings.