By: Mark Wasik
Saturday, March 14
CUSA Championship Game
8:30 p.m. (ET) – #6 seed Kennesaw St (20-13, 10-10 CUSA) vs #4 Louisiana Tech (20-13, 11-9 CUSA)
Location: Huntsville, Ala. | VBC Propst Arena (9,000)
TV: CBS Sports Network (Jordan Kent, Michael O'Donnell, Tiffany Blackmon)
Radio: KSU Owl Network (Nolan Alexander/Brandon Johnson)
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HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Kennesaw State men's basketball is playing for its second-ever trip to the March Madness, as the sixth-seeded Owls take on fourth-seed Louisiana Tech in the Conference USA Championship game on Saturday night at 8:30 pm (ET). The game will be nationally broadcast on CBS Sports Network, and the winner will receive CUSA's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
A FEW NOTES
♦ Thanks to taking down the No. 2 (Sam Houston) and No. 3 (Western Kentucky) seeds, the Owls are the lowest seed to reach the Conference USA championship game since sixth-seed Marshall in 2017. KSU is now looking to become the lowest seed to win the CUSA tournament since seventh-seed Houston took down the No. 10, No. 2, No. 6 and No. 1 seeds to win the 2010 tournament title.
♦ The current Kennesaw State starting lineup is an oddity in today's college basketball world, as there is not a single senior or transfer player in the starting five, the only team in CUSA with such a lineup. KSU will start a pair of first-year players, two sophomores, and a junior, all recruited to the Black and Gold as freshmen.
♦ This week's tournament is a homecoming for several Owls, as third-year head coach Antoine Pettway played the 2024-25 season in the NBA G League for the Huntsville Flight, while guard RJ Johnson is a native of Huntsville, and Kaden Rickard is from nearby Madison.
♦ Johnson was permanently inserted into the starting lineup on January 17. Since then, he is one of four DI players averaging 18.0+ points and 5.0+ assists while shooting at least 40.0% from three-point range.
