2023 Conference USA men's basketball tournament

2023 Conference USA men's basketball tournament
ClassificationDivision I
Season2022–23
Teams11
SiteFord Center at The Star
Frisco, Texas
ChampionsFlorida Atlantic (1st title)
Winning coachDusty May (1st title)
MVPAlijah Martin (Florida Atlantic)
TelevisionESPN+, CBSSN
← 2022
2024 →
2022–23 Conference USA men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
No. 25 Florida Atlantic † 18 – 2   .900 35 – 4   .897
North Texas 16 – 4   .800 31 – 7   .816
UAB 14 – 6   .700 29 – 10   .744
Middle Tennessee 11 – 9   .550 19 – 14   .576
Charlotte 9 – 11   .450 22 – 14   .611
Rice 8 – 12   .400 19 – 16   .543
FIU 8 – 12   .400 14 – 18   .438
Western Kentucky 8 – 12   .400 17 – 16   .515
UTEP 7 – 13   .350 14 – 18   .438
Louisiana Tech 7 – 13   .350 15 – 18   .455
UTSA 4 – 16   .200 10 – 22   .313
† 2023 C-USA tournament winner
Rankings from AP poll

The 2023 Conference USA men's basketball tournament was held March 8–11, 2023, at Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas. First-round and quarterfinal games of the tournament were televised on ESPN+ while the semifinal and championship games were aired on CBS Sports Network.[1] The winner of the tournament, Florida Atlantic, received the conference's automatic bid to the 2023 NCAA tournament.

Seeds

Teams were seeded by conference record. The top five teams received byes to the quarterfinals.

Seed School Conference
record 		Tiebreaker
1 Florida Atlantic 18–2
2 North Texas 16–4
3 UAB 14–6
4 Middle Tennessee 11–9
5 Charlotte 9–11
6 Rice 8–12 3–1 vs. FIU/Western Kentucky
7 FIU 8–12 2–2 vs. Rice/Western Kentucky
8 Western Kentucky 8–12 1–3 vs. Rice/FIU
9 UTEP 7–13 1–1 vs. Middle Tennessee
10 Louisiana Tech 7–13 0–2 vs. Middle Tennessee
11 UTSA 4–16

Schedule

[2]

Game Time Matchup Score Television Attendance
First round – March 8, 2023
1 5:30 pm (8) Western Kentucky vs. (9) UTEP 73–67 ESPN+ 1,041
2 8:00 pm (7) FIU vs. (10) Louisiana Tech 76–81OT 1,232
3 8:30 pm (6) Rice vs. (11) UTSA 72–71
Quarterfinals – March 9, 2023
4 5:30 pm (1) Florida Atlantic vs. (8) Western Kentucky 75–51 ESPN+ 1,773
5 6:00 pm (4) Middle Tennessee vs. (5) Charlotte 66–65
6 8:00 pm (2) North Texas vs. (10) Louisiana Tech 74–46 2,765
7 8:30 pm (3) UAB vs. (6) Rice 87–60
Semifinals – March 10, 2023
8 11:30 am (1) Florida Atlantic vs. (4) Middle Tennessee 68–65 CBSSN 2,005
9 2:00 pm (2) North Texas vs. (3) UAB 69–76
Championship – March 11, 2023
10 7:30 pm (1) Florida Atlantic vs. (3) UAB 78–56 CBSSN 1,681
*Game times in CT. ()-Rankings denote tournament seeding.

Bracket

[3]

First round
Wednesday, March 8 		Quarterfinals
Thursday, March 9 		Semifinals
Friday, March 10 		Championship
Saturday, March 11
1 Florida Atlantic 75
8 Western Kentucky 73 8 Western Kentucky 51
9 UTEP 67 1 Florida Atlantic 68
4 Middle Tennessee 65
4 Middle Tennessee 66
5 Charlotte 65
1 Florida Atlantic 78
3 UAB 56
2 North Texas 74
7 Florida International 76 10 Louisiana Tech 46
10 Louisiana Tech 81* 2 North Texas 69
3 UAB 76
3 UAB 87
6 Rice 72 6 Rice 60
11 UTSA 71

* – Denotes overtime period

Game summaries

First round

ESPN+
March 8, 2023
5:30 pm
No. 8 Western Kentucky 73, No. 9 UTEP 67
Scoring by half: 28–34, 33–45
Pts: Sharp (16)
Rebs: Sharp (8)
Asts: McKnight (7)		 Pts: Solomon (18)
Rebs: Onyema (9)
Asts: Givance (8)
Ford Center at The Star
Frisco, Texas
Attendance: 1,041
Referees: Amy Bonner
Gary Maxwell
Shane Staggs
ESPN+
March 8, 2023
8:00 pm
No. 7 Florida International 76, No. 10 Louisiana Tech 81 (OT)
Scoring by half: 24–36, 45–33 Overtime: 7–12
Pts: Jones (25)
Rebs: Dean (6)
Asts: Dean (7)		 Pts: Willis (23)
Rebs: Mangum (11)
Asts: Crawford/Willis (3)
Ford Center at The Star
Frisco, Texas
Attendance: 1,232
Referees: Rick Crawford
John St. Clair
Antinio Petty
ESPN+
March 8, 2023
8:30 pm
No. 6 Rice 72, No. 11 UTSA 71
Scoring by half: 42–33, 30–38
Pts: Olivari (18)
Rebs: Olivari (8)
Asts: Fiedler (6)		 Pts: Medor (20)
Rebs: Richards (7)
Asts: Medor (6)
Ford Center at The Star
Frisco, Texas
Attendance: 1,232
Referees: Darron George
Chris Merlo
Chris Pacsi

Quarterfinals

ESPN+
March 9, 2023
5:30 pm
No. 1 Florida Atlantic 75, No. 9 Western Kentucky 51
Scoring by half: 30–20, 45–31
Pts: Davis (14)
Rebs: Greenlee (8)
Asts: Davis (4)		 Pts: McKnight (18)
Rebs: Sharp (11)
Asts: McKnight (2)
Ford Center at The Star
Frisco, Texas
Attendance: 1,773
Referees: Kelly Self
Craig Murley
Kevin Mathis
ESPN+
March 9, 2023
6:00 pm
No. 4 Middle Tennessee 66, No. 5 Charlotte 65
Scoring by half: 26–28, 40–37
Pts: Weston (22)
Rebs: Dishman (9)
Asts: Dishman/Weston/Lenard Jr./Bufford/Millin (1)		 Pts: Khalifa/Patterson (14)
Rebs: Khalifa (7)
Asts: Khalifa (4)
Ford Center at The Star
Frisco, Texas
Attendance: 1,773
Referees: Rick Crawford
Antinio Petty
Chris Hudson
ESPN+
March 9, 2023
8:00 pm
No. 2 North Texas 74, No. 10 Louisiana Tech 46
Scoring by half: 35–19, 39–27
Pts: Scott (19)
Rebs: Ousmane (9)
Asts: Huntsberry (4)		 Pts: J. Crawford (10)
Rebs: Hunter (5)
Asts: I. Crawford/J. Crawford (1)
Ford Center at The Star
Frisco, Texas
Attendance: 2,765
Referees: Darron George
Tyler Kumpf
James Duke
ESPN+
March 9, 2023
8:30 pm
No. 3 UAB 87, No. 6 Rice 60
Scoring by half: 40–30, 47–30
Pts: Walker (27)
Rebs: Jemison (10)
Asts: Gaines (6)		 Pts: Evee (20)
Rebs: Sheffield (6)
Asts: Fiedler (5)
Ford Center at The Star
Frisco, Texas
Attendance: 2,765
Referees: Stephen Divine
Rodrick Dixon
Gary Maxwell

Semifinals

CBSSN
March 10, 2023
11:30 am
No. 1 Florida Atlantic 68, No. 4 Middle Tennessee 65
Scoring by half: 37–25, 31–40
Pts: Davis (18)
Rebs: Martin (6)
Asts: Greenlee (3)		 Pts: Dishman (17)
Rebs: Dishman (11)
Asts: Weston (6)
Ford Center at The Star
Frisco, Texas
Referees: Darron George
Tyler Kumpf
Gary Maxwell
CBSSN
March 10, 2023
2:00 pm
No. 2 North Texas 69, No. 3 UAB 76
Scoring by half: 28–35, 41–41
Pts: Perry (17)
Rebs: Scott (13)
Asts: Huntsberry (4)		 Pts: Walker (32)
Rebs: Buffen (7)
Asts: Walker (6)
Ford Center at The Star
Frisco, Texas
Attendance: 2,005
Referees: Rick Crawford
Jeb Hartness
Antinio Petty

Championship game

CBSSN
March 11, 2023
7:30 pm
No. 1 Florida Atlantic 78, No. 3 UAB 56
Scoring by half: 46–27, 32–29
Pts: Martin (30)
Rebs: Martin (11)
Asts: Rosado/Boyd/Gaffney (2)		 Pts: Walker (18)
Rebs: Jemison (8)
Asts: Gaines (2)
Ford Center at The Star
Frisco, Texas
Attendance: 1,681
Referees: Jeb Hartness, Antinio Petty, Gary Maxwell

*Game times: CT

See also

References

  1. ^ "2022-23 Championship Schedule". Conference USA.
  2. ^ "Basketball Championships Schedule" (PDF). Conference USA.
  3. ^ "Men's Basketball Championship Bracket" (PDF). Conference USA.