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Sports

Cougars will have vengeance on their minds

Houston to meet Southern Miss in second round of Conference USA tourney

by CHRIS ELLIOTT
The Daily Cougar

A second-round matchup against Southern Methodist could have been Houston's easy ticket to a Conference USA semifinal game. The Cougars beat the Mustangs twice in the regular season with an average margin of victory of 18 points. 

However, deep down, many UH players were looking for the Mustangs to lose their first-round C-USA Tournament game against Southern Miss on Wednesday. 

A win is a win, and UH needs to win three consecutive games in the C-USA Tournament to make it to the Big Dance. However, picking up a win while knocking off one of the teams that made their lives rather uncomfortable in the final month of the regular season is more of a fit for the Cougars.

The third-seeded Cougars (16-14) will get the chance to settle their vendetta with No. 6 seed Southern Miss (20-10) at 2:30 p.m. today at FedExForum in Memphis. 

The Golden Eagles defeated No. 11 seed SMU 59-52.

When Houston and Southern Miss squared off Feb. 19, the Golden Eagles came away with a 74-69 victory.

"It's just a chance for us to redeem ourselves," senior forward Jahmar "Dunk Master Flex" Thorpe said. "It will be a payback game as well as a tournament game. We're going to follow (our) game plans, and hopefully we'll end up with the victory."

Thorpe recorded 14 points and seven rebounds in the teams' earlier meeting and will likely start today in one of the more traditional lineups UH head coach Tom Penders has put on the floor in the previous two years. 

Thorpe will line up in the frontcourt with junior power forward/center Tafari Toney, the 6-8, 242-pound scrapper who's hustled his way into the starting lineup. Senior guard and all-C-USA defensive player Oliver Lafayette will likely start at three-guard, while junior guard Robert "Fluff" McKiver will get the nod at shooting guard.

Sophomore point guard Charlie Jones began to receive significant playing time in the last three games of the season and has worked his way into the starting lineup to give Penders a true point guard on the floor. 

"There's no question (whether) Charlie will play a lot," Penders said. "He gives us the ability to break down defenses and get the ball to Fluff, instead of Fluff having to create off of his own dribble."

The winner of today's game will advance to the semifinal round to face the victor of the second-round game between No. 2 seed Central Florida and No. 7 seed Rice.

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