CUSA MBB Week #10

All games times are CST

Wednesday – January 10th

Liberty vs. Jacksonville State – 6:00 PM (ESPN+)... Gamecocks win 61-51
Sam Houston vs. Western Kentucky – 6:30 PM (ESPN+)... Bearkats win 78-74

Thursday – January 11th

Florida International vs. New Mexico State – 6:00 PM (ESPN+)... Panthers win 77-67
Middle Tennessee vs. Louisiana Tech – 8:00 PM (CBS Sports)... Bulldogs win 60-52

Saturday – January 13th

Western Kentucky vs. Jacksonville State – 4:00 PM (CBS Sports)... Hilltoppers win 80-69
Florida International vs. UTEP – 5:00 PM (ESPN+)... Panthers win 72-68
Middle Tennessee vs. Sam Houston – 5:00 PM (ESPN+)... Bearkats win 60-51

Sunday – January 14th

Louisiana Tech vs. Liberty – 2:00 PM (ESPN2)... Bulldogs win 80-76 OT

Week #9 Awards

Player of the Week: Jacksonville State's KyKy Tandy
Freshman of the Week: UTEP's David Terrell Jr.

Conference Record after Week #9

AAC................... 3-5
America East....... 2-0
Atlantic 10.......... 0-1
ACC................... 0-2
ASun.................. 4-3
Big 10................ 0-1
Big 12................ 0-4
Big Sky............... 1-0
Big South............ 0-1
Big West............. 1-1
Coastal............... 0-1
Horizon League.... 2-0
Independents...... 1-0
MAAC................. 0-1
MAC................... 2-2
MEAC................. 2-0
Missouri Valley..... 2-7
Mountain West..... 1-5
Northeast............ 1-0
Ohio Valley.......... 2-0
SEC.................... 0-3
Southern............. 1-3
Southland............ 6-2
Summit League.... 1-0
Sun Belt.............. 5-2
SWAC................. 2-0
PAC-12................ 1-2
WAC................... 8-12
WCC................... 1-3
Non-D1............... 22-0

SHSU with a nice win over La Tech. Tops will need to be ready to play. Won't be on the players minds at all, but as a fan I am looking ahead to the Ray Harper reunion game on Saturday.

If SH can get a home win Wed Night that would be a huge 2-0 start against 2 quality squads

CUSA Top 20 Attendance for the season thus far...

Conference matchups in BOLD

1. UTEP vs. UC Santa Barbara............................. 7121
2. New Mexico State vs. Western New Mexico........ 5908
3. New Mexico State vs. Northern Colorado........... 5656
4. New Mexico State vs. UTEP......................... 5216
5. New Mexico State vs. New Mexico.................... 5182
6. Western Kentucky vs. Liberty...................... 5057
7. UTEP vs. Austin Peay...................................... 4871
8. UTEP vs. Texas A&M Corpus Christi.................. 4671
9. New Mexico State vs. Sul Ross State................ 4507
10. UTEP vs. Seattle U....................................... 4391
11. New Mexico State vs. California Baptist........... 4226
12. UTEP vs. Nicholls State................................. 4193
13. New Mexico State vs. Univ. of the Southwest... 4135
14. Liberty vs. Grand Canyon.............................. 4052
15. Western Kentucky vs. Abilene Christian........... 4011
16. New Mexico State vs. Northern New Mexico..... 3961
17. Western Kentucky vs. Kentucky Wesleyan........ 3890
18. UTEP vs. McMurry......................................... 3782
19. Liberty vs. Mid-Atlantic Christian..................... 3664
20. UTEP vs. Western New Mexico........................ 3656

Both the NMSU/UTEP and UKU/Liberty games cracked the top 20 in attendance this week. The Aggie/Miner attendance was a bit of a letdown, but Hilltopper fans are starting to jump on the bandwagon.

"Both the NMSU/UTEP and UKU/Liberty games cracked the top 20 in attendance this week. The Aggie/Miner attendance was a bit of a letdown, but Hilltopper fans are starting to jump on the bandwagon."





There's two reasons for that low attendance at the Utep-Enemas U game: Firstly, both teams aren't what they used to be, that is ranked or being very good. Secondly, students and younger folks don't care too much about these two teams rivalry that dates decades. They're too busy on their Tik Toks.

(01-08-2024 01:06 PM)olliebaba Wrote:  "Both the NMSU/UTEP and UKU/Liberty games cracked the top 20 in attendance this week. The Aggie/Miner attendance was a bit of a letdown, but Hilltopper fans are starting to jump on the bandwagon."





There's two reasons for that low attendance at the Utep-Enemas U game: Firstly, both teams aren't what they used to be, that is ranked or being very good. Secondly, students and younger folks don't care too much about these two teams rivalry that dates decades. They're too busy on their Tik Toks.

There are more than the 2 reasons you state. The students are still on break. That is 1-2k more attendees at least.

(01-08-2024 02:15 PM)NMSUPistolPete Wrote:  

746? Yuck, sorry guys. We didn’t even release attendance numbers for the LaTech game, but I would guess it wasn’t much more than 1,000. Things should improve with students back on campus, as they should across the board in the conference. It looked like WKU had a nice crowd for Liberty and you’d expect conference play to generate more excitement especially with the newbies. Only three schools drawing less than 2k is a positive.

Potential additions MBB attendance through 1/7

Missouri State (3,212)
UMass (3,008)
EKU (2,689)
SFA (2,130)
Tarleton (1,169)

(01-08-2024 03:02 PM)EatEmUp11 Wrote:  

(01-08-2024 02:15 PM)NMSUPistolPete Wrote:  

746? Yuck, sorry guys. We didn’t even release attendance numbers for the LaTech game, but I would guess it wasn’t much more than 1,000. Things should improve with students back on campus, as they should across the board in the conference. It looked like WKU had a nice crowd for Liberty and you’d expect conference play to generate more excitement especially with the newbies. Only three schools drawing less than 2k is a positive.

Potential additions MBB attendance through 1/7

Missouri State (3,212)
UMass (3,008)
EKU (2,689)
SFA (2,130)
Tarleton (1,169)

Tarleton's attendance should go up a bit once they complete their new 8,000-seat arena (scheduled to be completed in 2025).

(01-08-2024 12:27 PM)NMSUPistolPete Wrote:  CUSA Top 20 Attendance for the season thus far...

Conference matchups in BOLD

1. UTEP vs. UC Santa Barbara............................. 7121
2. New Mexico State vs. Western New Mexico........ 5908
3. New Mexico State vs. Northern Colorado........... 5656
4. New Mexico State vs. UTEP......................... 5216
5. New Mexico State vs. New Mexico.................... 5182
6. Western Kentucky vs. Liberty...................... 5057
7. UTEP vs. Austin Peay...................................... 4871
8. UTEP vs. Texas A&M Corpus Christi.................. 4671
9. New Mexico State vs. Sul Ross State................ 4507
10. UTEP vs. Seattle U....................................... 4391
11. New Mexico State vs. California Baptist........... 4226
12. UTEP vs. Nicholls State................................. 4193
13. New Mexico State vs. Univ. of the Southwest... 4135
14. Liberty vs. Grand Canyon.............................. 4052
15. Western Kentucky vs. Abilene Christian........... 4011
16. New Mexico State vs. Northern New Mexico..... 3961
17. Western Kentucky vs. Kentucky Wesleyan........ 3890
18. UTEP vs. McMurry......................................... 3782
19. Liberty vs. Mid-Atlantic Christian..................... 3664
20. UTEP vs. Western New Mexico........................ 3656

Both the NMSU/UTEP and UKU/Liberty games cracked the top 20 in attendance this week. The Aggie/Miner attendance was a bit of a letdown, but Hilltopper fans are starting to jump on the bandwagon.

I also follow UTEP. They haven’t played Nicholls St this year and there’s also a game vs Wyoming that should be near the top 10 that is missing.

(01-09-2024 08:55 PM)UIWElite Wrote:  

(01-08-2024 12:27 PM)NMSUPistolPete Wrote:  CUSA Top 20 Attendance for the season thus far...

Conference matchups in BOLD

1. UTEP vs. UC Santa Barbara............................. 7121
2. New Mexico State vs. Western New Mexico........ 5908
3. New Mexico State vs. Northern Colorado........... 5656
4. New Mexico State vs. UTEP......................... 5216
5. New Mexico State vs. New Mexico.................... 5182
6. Western Kentucky vs. Liberty...................... 5057
7. UTEP vs. Austin Peay...................................... 4871
8. UTEP vs. Texas A&M Corpus Christi.................. 4671
9. New Mexico State vs. Sul Ross State................ 4507
10. UTEP vs. Seattle U....................................... 4391
11. New Mexico State vs. California Baptist........... 4226
12. UTEP vs. Nicholls State................................. 4193
13. New Mexico State vs. Univ. of the Southwest... 4135
14. Liberty vs. Grand Canyon.............................. 4052
15. Western Kentucky vs. Abilene Christian........... 4011
16. New Mexico State vs. Northern New Mexico..... 3961
17. Western Kentucky vs. Kentucky Wesleyan........ 3890
18. UTEP vs. McMurry......................................... 3782
19. Liberty vs. Mid-Atlantic Christian..................... 3664
20. UTEP vs. Western New Mexico........................ 3656

Both the NMSU/UTEP and UKU/Liberty games cracked the top 20 in attendance this week. The Aggie/Miner attendance was a bit of a letdown, but Hilltopper fans are starting to jump on the bandwagon.

I also follow UTEP. They haven’t played Nicholls St this year and there’s also a game vs Wyoming that should be near the top 10 that is missing.

You are right, I put Nicholls State instead of Norfolk State and I did leave out the Wyoming game by mistake, I have now corrected it.

CUSA Top 20 Attendance for the season thus far...

Conference matchups in BOLD

1. UTEP vs. UC Santa Barbara............................. 7121
2. New Mexico State vs. Western New Mexico........ 5908
3. New Mexico State vs. Northern Colorado........... 5656
4. New Mexico State vs. UTEP......................... 5216
5. New Mexico State vs. New Mexico.................... 5182
6. Western Kentucky vs. Liberty...................... 5057
7. UTEP vs. Austin Peay...................................... 4871
8. UTEP vs. Texas A&M Corpus Christi.................. 4671
9. New Mexico State vs. Sul Ross State................ 4507
10. UTEP vs. Seattle U....................................... 4391
11. UTEP vs. Wyoming....................................... 4310
12. New Mexico State vs. California Baptist........... 4226
13. UTEP vs. Norfolk State.................................. 4193
14. New Mexico State vs. Univ. of the Southwest... 4135
15. Liberty vs. Grand Canyon.............................. 4052
16. Western Kentucky vs. Abilene Christian........... 4011
17. New Mexico State vs. Northern New Mexico..... 3961
18. Western Kentucky vs. Kentucky Wesleyan........ 3890
19. UTEP vs. McMurry......................................... 3782
20. Liberty vs. Mid-Atlantic Christian..................... 3664

Liberty loses the first conference home game. Jax State wins 61-51.

Jee Whiz! Liberty throws out a couple more stinkers tonight. Jax St. men and women handle the Flames with convincing wins. LU just not as good as we’re used to. Great games by the Gamecocks. Congrats on the wins.

(01-10-2024 09:16 PM)army56mike Wrote:  Jee Whiz! Liberty throws out a couple more stinkers tonight. Jax St. men and women handle the Flames with convincing wins. LU just not as good as we’re used to. Great games by the Gamecocks. Congrats on the wins.

I’m pretty sure LU will get on track but how bout the start for Jacksonville State? Picked to finish dead last in CUSA by a significant margin, they were an 11.5 point underdog and ESPN gave them a 10% chance to win. They won by 10 IN LYNCHBURG. Think it might be time to watch out for KyKy and the Cocks.

Surprising for JAX State to win AT Liberty.

Liberty only 51 points.

Future member KSU wins tonight and is now 11-5, (2-0).

Good news. The more strong teams--the better.

JAX State and Liberty fans... your thoughts?? about the JSU win in Lynchburg (metro area pop. 262,000).


Up next:

JSU at WKU--Sat.
Liberty at La Tech--Sun.

Liberty looked overmatched and uncomfortable. Confidence is down. Jax St. wasn’t great but wanted it more, played harder, executed better.

Liberty will lose to La Tech.

There seems to be complete parity in CUSA this season. Road wins will be tough to get. And no one is so talented that they can take their opponents for granted. Conference play will be very similar to the OOC season for this new CUSA group. Most coaches are not familiar with all the styles of play of their conference peers; with three new head coaches and four new programs added to conference.

Joe Golding, Talvin Hester, Jeremy Ballard and Nick McDevitt are all familiar with each other's coaching styles from prior CUSA seasons. Jason Hooten and Joe Golding are familiar with each other's coaching styles from their days in the Southland. Ritchie McKay and Ray Harper are familiar with each other's coaching styles from their days in the ASUN. Chris Mudge is very familiar with Jason Hooten's coaching style as his protege' at Sam Houston. And no one in the conference is familiar with Steve Lutz's coaching style firsthand. Next season all nine coaches should be much more familiar with each other and their respective programs. But then KSU's Antoine Pettway will enter the mix.

Jax State is 2-0 in CUSA. The season is playing out exactly like everyone expected.



In all seriousness, we're all as shocked and stunned as anybody. It's early yet, but so far, this is looking like one of Ray Harper's best coaching jobs ever.

Oh, the team is still loaded with issues and inexperience, and KyKy is basically our entire offense, but our defense has come together well enough to keep us in games, and the offense has been just barely good enough to win. Considering where we were (actually) projected to finish this season, I'll gladly take it.