Players with Dallas County connections in NCAA Tournament
Published 5:50 pm Sunday, March 15, 2015
UAB’s Denzell Watts (left) and UAB’s William Lee celebrate the 73-60 victory over Middle Tennessee for the Conference USA tournament championship in Birmingham, Ala., Saturday, March 14, 2015. (Mark Almond. Al.com)
Two players with Dallas County connections will take part in the NCAA Tournament and both will be on teams trying to pull bracket-busting upsets.
Malcolm Riley and Texas Southern will battle Arizona Thursday in the NCAA Tournament. (Submitted Photo/ Texas Southern Athletics)
Former Dallas County High School star William Lee and UAB will face Iowa State in a 3 vs. 14 matchup in the first round Thursday in Louisville, Ky. Texas Southern and former Selma High School standout Malcolm Riley will travel to Portland, Ore. to take on 2 seed Arizona in a 2-15 game.
Lee and the Blazers defeated Middle Tennessee Saturday to win the Conference USA Tournament, meaning UAB only had to wait to see who it would play when the bracket was unveiled. Lee scored 13 points against the Blue Raiders and was named to the Conference USA All-Tournament team.
Eighteen 14 seeds have defeated 3 seeds in the history of the NCAA Tournament, including Mercer over Duke in the 2014 tournament. Three seeds are 102-18 versus 14 seeds all-time.
Texas Southern defeated Southern to win the Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament Saturday, but already had the SWAC’s automatic bid locked up because the Jaguars were ineligible for the tournament.
Riley exited Saturday’s championship game after being knocked to the ground by Southern’s Trelun Banks on a flagrant foul in the final minute. At the end of the play, another Southern player fell on Riley.
He was unable to shoot the free throws he was awarded and later was shown with a bandage wrapped around his head. The injury required stitches. He scored 18 points and 10 rebounds to lead the way for the Tigers.
Two seeds are 113-7 all-time against 15 seeds all-time. The last 15 seed to beat a 2 seed was Lehigh over Duke in 2012.
