By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports
Two bitter Conference USA basketball championship game losses Saturday soured 20-win seasons for Louisiana Tech.
In a stunner, sixth-seeded Missouri State smothered the top-seeded Lady Techsters, holding them to their lowest point total in six years including only 12 points after halftime in a 43-38 loss in Huntsville, Ala.
The Bulldogs, seeded fourth, were surprise finalists in the men’s bracket and so was sixth-seeded Kennesaw State (21-13, which prevailed over Tech 71-60 Saturday night to earn the CUSA automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament. It would have been the Bulldogs’ first run in March Madness since 1991.
Due to the demise of the College Basketball Invitational, which announced last week it would not operate this year, Tech had no place to go despite its 20-14 record that ordinarily would be good enough to continue playing.
The Techsters (26-6) aren’t finished yet. They received an automatic bid to the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament as a regular-season champion that did not get into the NCAA Tournament.
Tech will go to Houston to play American Conference regular-season champ Rice – a former CUSA rival — in Tudor Fieldhouse on Thursday, tipping off at 7 o’clock.
The WBIT is a 32-team postseason tournament with the highest-seeded teams hosting first, second and quarterfinal round games at campus sites. WBIT semifinal and final games are at Butler University’s historic Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on March 30 and April 1.
The Lady Techsters went 17-1 in league play, losing their first, then not falling again for 20 games, after pushing through CUSA Tournament quarterfinals and semifinals. The regular-season 17-game run is the longest winning streak in CUSA history.
Missouri State (22-12) lost two games to the Techsters in the regular season, 60-51 at Springfield, Mo. On Jan. 22, and 68-67 in Ruston on Valentine’s Day. The Bears drew a play-in game matchup against Southland Conference Tournament champion Stephen F. Austin (25-9) in Austin on Wednesday.
The Techsters’ 26 wins are the most by the program since 2005-06.
Rice (28-5) was upset by UTSA 54-40 in the American Conference championship game. The Owls, also 17-1 in regular-season league play, are first in the country in free throw aim at 81.6 percent.
Former Tech athletics director Tommy McClelland has the same post at Rice.
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com