While the University of Cincinnati has been the model of consistent success in the seven-year history of Conference USA, it's often a different story for other programs.

        Take Southern Mississippi, for example. Last March, it shared the C-USA regular-season title with the Bearcats, and James Green was named the league's Coach of the Year.

        Eleven months later, Green's group — which plays No.5 UC tonight at Shoemaker Center — is struggling just to become one of 12 teams to qualify for the conference tournament. The bottom two, regardless of division, will not participate.

        The Golden Eagles (7-15) have the worst league record (2-10, .167) but are within striking distance of East Carolina (3-9, .250) and DePaul (2-9, .182).

        That's not quite the goal Green had in mind when the season began.

        In his sixth year with the Golden Eagles, he figured on some rebuilding after losing three starters — David Wall, Vandarel Jones and Mel Cauthen.

        But Green did not count on losing senior forward Kilavorus Thompson, another returning starter who suffered a season-ending knee injury last summer, and freshman Jasper Johnson, who had shoulder surgery in the fall and is also out for the year. Both could score inside and outside and were expected to contribute heavily.

        “We were going to struggle some, anyway,” Green said. “We're not one of those programs that is ever going to reload and go back to back with a bunch of talent. Then we had some injuries. We lost some leadership. We didn't win early. And then our confidence was shot.

        “It's been my biggest challenge, simply because I'm competitive. You want to win, and you get a program to the point where we had it last year and you want to capitalize on that. I think we will, it's just going to take more time than what I would have liked.”

        The Golden Eagles are 1-8 on the road this season and have lost all six of their away league games. They have lost eight in a row to the Bearcats.

        Southern Miss is riding a four-game losing streak and has dropped eight of its last nine.

        “If we come out and we compete and get better, then that's going to be a positive experience for us,” Green said. “Obviously, we're going to try to win the game. There's going to be a lot of odds against us. You know how it can be when you're playing on Cincinnati's home court any year, and this year they're awfully, awfully tough.”

        This is one of those “nothing to lose” games for the Golden Eagles, who have a chance to make a name for themselves on national TV (ESPN) if they can pull off an upset.

        Senior forward Elvin Mims is the Golden Eagles' leading scorer (18.4 ppg), and he has been expected to carry much of the load offensively all season. He can plan to see UC's Immanuel McElroy around him all night. USM's No.2 scorer is sophomore reserve Clement Carter (10.5 ppg), who missed four games because of a knee injury. He had arthroscopic surgery Jan.29 and returned to action Saturday.

        UC will be facing a team similar to the one it played Tuesday night. Saint Louis and Southern Miss both like to use the shot clock when they have the ball and slow down the tempo of the game. They don't want the Bearcats getting easy baskets in transition.

        The Bearcats didn't execute their offense well against the Billikens. They will try again against a Southern Miss team that ranks fourth in the league in defense.

        “They always do a great job of guarding,” UC coach Bob Huggins said. “They make it hard to score.”

        Said UC assistant Andy Kennedy: “What we try to stress to our team is that this isn't about Southern Miss, this isn't about Wake Forest, this isn't about Saint Louis; this is about us and trying to improve internally.”

        Southern Miss could say the same. It has been to the National Invitation Tournament two of the past four years and was predicted to finish fourth in the C-USA National Division this season.

        LOGAN HONORED:

        UC senior Steve Logan was named first-team all-District 10 by the National Association of Basketball Coaches.

Huggins to West Virginia? So. Miss looks up to UC Burns returns to UC as offensive coordinator

GCL South title on the line
Little numbers mean a lot
McBride's return what SCD needed
New playoffs add interest
When East meets West
Roundup: Boys
Roundup: Kentucky girls
Roundup: Ohio girls
Indiana boys basketball scores
Kentucky boys basketball scores
Kentucky girls basketball scores
Ohio girls basketball scores
Hamilton to hire Gillespie
Indian Hill's Hunter has chance to match Farley
McAuley divers win at District
Clermont Northeastern wrestler has his cake and eats it, too
Wrestling: Firebirds favored at Wilmington sectional
Wrestling Notebook
Wrestling: Ryle siblings alike as winners
Schedule: Boys
Schedule: Girls
Bowden optimistic - as long as things go right
Tigers give Dmitri Young 4-year, $28.5 M deal
Sensational Sato spurs Xavier win
3-pointers help Marshall outlast Miami
NKU 95, Bellarmine 73
Duke stomps Pack
NFL notebook
Red Wings assign two to Mighty Ducks
Webber directs Sacramento past Jordan, Washington
Coming up this week