TicketsBearcats Play USF or Houston in C-USAs
Contact: Brian Teter
3/6/2005
Cincinnati will open play in the 2005 Conference USA Men?s Basketball Tournament in Thursday?s quarterfinals at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tenn. The Bearcats will face the winner of Wednesday?s first round game between No. 6 seed Houston and No. 11 seed USF.
Cincinnati, 24-6 overall, finished in tie for second place in the C-USA regular season race with a 12-4 league ledger. UC garnered the No. 3 seed in the tournament via the tie-breaking procedures.
Cincinnati closed regular season play by defeating Memphis, 62-60, last Saturday. Houston (18-12) was edged by UAB, 71-66, to fall into a tie for sixth place with a 9-7 league ledger while USF (12-15) upset second-place Charlotte, 85-73, to finish in 10th place.
For the ninth time in the 10-year history of Conference USA, Cincinnati has earned a bye from the first round of play. A Cincinnati win on Thursday will advance the Bearcats to Friday?s semifinals. Playing opposite UC in the bracket is No. 2 seed Charlotte (21-6, 12-4), which will face the winner of the first round matchup between No. 7 Memphis (16-14, 9-7) and No. 10 Saint Louis (9-20, 6-10) on Thursday.
For Friday?s semifinal round, the highest-seeded remaining team will play at 4:30 p.m. followed by the other semifinal game at 7 p.m. Saturday?s championship game will tip off at 11:40 a.m.