LA Tech gains frontcourt depth, sign Bossier Parish Community College’s Mo Muhammed

RUSTON – The Louisiana Tech men’s basketball coaching staff only had to go an hour west to find their latest addition to the recruiting class, signing junior college forward Mubarak “Mo” Muhammed to play for the Bulldogs.

Muhammed, a 6-foot-8-inch, 225-pound frontcourt player who was recently named the LABC Junior College Player of the Year, spent this past season collecting a lot of rebounds and scoring at an efficient rate at Bossier Parish Community College in Bossier City.

“We are thrilled to welcome Mo Muhammed to the Louisiana Tech Family,” head coach Eric Konkol said. “Our goal is to recruit first class people who are quality students and talented basketball players. Mo fits that profile extremely well. He is a forward that plays with great energy, athleticism and versatility. He rebounds at a high rate and has produced points both at the rim and away from the basket.

“We are excited how well he fits our program and campus. Mo gives our team great experience from competing in one of the best junior college leagues in the country while at Bossier Parish Community College. He also was very well coached by Chris Lovell. He is driven to become the best version of himself at Louisiana Tech and we are excited to help him.”

While at BPCC for the 2017-18 season, Muhammed averaged 14.2 points per game while shooting 48 percent from the field, 37 percent from beyond the arc and 75 percent from the free throw line.

He stepped up his scoring game even more in Region 14 action, averaging 16.6 points per contest including a career-high 31-point performance on 13-of-15 shooting against Navarro.

Muhammed also led the Cavaliers in rebounds and blocks as he averaged 9.1 boards and 1.5 blocks per game. Both his total rebounds and total blocks ranked in the top eight in Region 14 and in the top 50 in all of NJCAA.

The forward ended up posting 16 double-doubles in 30 games, recording a career-high 18 rebounds (eight offensive) at Lamar State-Port Arthur. He also registered multiple blocks in 13 games.

BPCC ended up posting a 17-win season, the most single-season victories by the Cavaliers in 10 years.

Muhammed spent his freshman season at the College of Southern Idaho where he averaged 4.6 points and 4.5 rebounds per game while only averaging 9.1 minutes per contest. He ended up shooting 57 percent from the field during the 2016-17 season for the Golden Eagles.

He spent his last year of high school at Lighthouse Christian School in Antoich, Tennessee but was born in Nigeria, becoming the third Bulldog (along with Armstrong Ojunkwu and Anthony Duruji) with connections to the African nation.

C-USA ROLLS OUT INNOVATIVE SCHEDULE FOR MEN’S HOOPS

IRVING, Texas – Conference USA will launch a new schedule format for the 2018-19 men’s basketball conference season. The Athletics Directors and Board of Directors originally passed the concept in January following discussions with former head coach and ESPN analyst Mark Adams. Head Men’s Basketball Coaches and Athletics Directors finalized the details during the league’s annual spring meetings in Destin, Florida.

“With the goals to improve seeding and increase the number of teams that advance to the postseason, we viewed this as a great opportunity to enhance our top teams’ resumes by providing them additional quality games within their conference schedule,” C-USA Commissioner Judy MacLeod said. “Nonconference scheduling will continue to be a priority but this will provide a real-time analysis to create competitive matchups for teams and their fans.”

Within the format, the 14 programs will play each other once and their travel partner twice in the first seven weeks of the conference season. At the conclusion of the seven weeks, teams will be placed in one of three groups based on conference standings through the first 14 games of league action. The teams will be divided into two groups of five (1-5 and 6-10) and a group of four (11-14). During the final three weeks, teams will play within their respective grouping for the last four games of conference play. Home and away games within the groups will be determined by a preset formula.

Once all 18 games have been completed, the top 12 teams based on final league standings will be seeded in the conference tournament. Teams will be guaranteed seeding within their respective group. For example, if a program lands in the second group (6-10), it will seed no higher than six and no lower than 10 in the tournament field.

“First, I want to congratulate the visionary leadership of Commissioner MacLeod and Assistant Commissioner for Sports Services Clifton Douglass from the conference office,” Mark Adams said. “This new scheduling plan uniquely combines the goals of Conference USA leaders and supporters. It combines a traditional schedule with an exciting end-of-season format that will surely catch the attention of college basketball fans and the NCAA Tournament selection committee.”

The 2019 C-USA Basketball Championships will be held in Frisco, Texas, March 13-16, at Ford Center at The Star.