Louisiana Tech opens play at the 2022 Heritage Landscape Supply Group Conference USA Basketball Championships today when the 3rd seeded Bulldogs face the 7th seed Marshall at 6 p.m. at the Star at the Ford Center in Frisco, Texas.
The Thundering Herd defeated 6th seed FIU 84-72 on Tuesday in the preliminary round of the five-day tournament.
Tech (21-9), the third seed out of the West Division, defeated Marshall (12-20) 79-56 in the Conference USA opener for both teams back on Dec. 30 in Ruston.
“They run spread pick and roles,” said Tech head coach Eric Konkol. “Tons of three-point shooting. Marshall will play a very big lineup. They are very dangerous because of the way they can shoot and score. It’s been a long time since we played them. This time of the year, all of these teams are good, and you throw all of the records out the window.”
The Bulldogs are one of a number of teams in Conference USA that is capable of winning the tournament crown and earning the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The last team standing after the title game on Saturday will have successfully defeated a gauntlet of talented teams to do it.
“This has been a tremendous league this year,” said Konkol. “I really believe that. Just the depth of this league. The players. There are a lot of experienced teams. What a battle every game has been. Not just our games, but if you look across our league, the type of games have been so competitive. There are really good players and really good coaching. There have been high level games all year.”
The Bulldogs are 7-7 all-time in the C-USA Tournament, having reached at least the quarterfinals in every appearance (and the semifinals four times including last season). They have won at least one game in the tournament in six of the seven trips.
LA Tech also leads the all-time series with Marshall, 9-5. The two teams have played each other just once in the C-USA Tournament back in 2017. They were scheduled to face off in the quarterfinals in 2020 before the tournament was canceled.
The contest can be heard on the LA Tech Sports Network on 107.5 FM and the LA Tech Athletics app with the pregame show starting at 5:30 p.m. It will also be streamed on ESPN+.
