Robert Nyakundi swished a baseline three-pointer with 1.1 seconds remaining to lift Southern Methodist to a win over Tulsa.

The shot came just moments after Justin Hurtt's three-point play gave the Hurricane a 58-56 lead with 8.8 seconds left.

It was the first time since the 2005-06 season that SMU has defeated the Golden Hurricane in C-USA action.

Rice had lost eight-straight to Houston prior to Wednesday night's overtime win.

The Owls erased a four-point deficit in the final 2:25 of regulation and dominated the extra period for a 79-71 victory.

They hadn't beaten the Cougars since Jan. 17, 2007.

Central Florida has landed 6-foot-4 guard Shawn Smith, who is expected to be one of the top prospects in the class of 2012.

"The rankings don’t really matter to me," said Smith, who one analyst believes will be in the Top 50 of his class.

Smith said he's more of a shooting guard, but that coach Donnie Jones told him he'd get the opportunity to play both backcourt spots at UCF.

He had offers from Florida, Florida State, West Virginia, Ole Miss, South Carolina and Cincinnati.

"It's about Coach Jones," Smith said of why he chose Central Florida. "He really stood out. Even though their were bigger names, he has a plan."

Smith has been described as a "Program changer."

Southern Methodist defeated Southern Miss on Saturday night in what was a historic effort.

Mustangs coach Matt Doherty said the 79-65 win was "the best I've seen our team play against a quality opponent."

SMU posted the second-best field goal percentage in school history.

"Our offense is not a simple offense so it's going to get better," Doherty said. "Our defense requires a lot of communication and it's getting better. Hopefully we're just starting to scratch the surface."

They shot 69.8% from the field against Southern Miss in what became the second best field goal percentage scored in a C-USA game.

East Carolina's Darius Morrow converted a three-point play with five seconds to go as the Pirates defeated Marshall 82-81 in Conference USA play on Saturday.

“Obviously, thoroughly disappointed with our effort defensively,” Marshall coach Tom Herrion said. “Embarrassing, shocking, whatever adjective you want to use.”

East Carolina is 3-2 in C-USA play with an overall mark of 11-8. Marshall is 13-6 overall, but just 1-3 in C-USA.

Central Florida has fallen to 1-4 in Conference USA with their fourth straight conference loss.

UCF lost to Rice on Sunday 58-50 despite holding a lead in the second half.

Former Kentucky guard Darnell Dodson is transferring to Southern Miss, coach Larry Eustachy said in a statement Friday.

Dodson is enrolled in the school and is expected to become eligible after sitting out the spring and fall semesters.

He averaged 6 points and 2.5 rebounds in 14.5 minutes last season as a sophomore at Kentucky, making a team-high 50 3-pointers.

Memphis defeated Southern Mississippi 76-75 on Wednesday night in what may be a turning point in their season.

"The way we played last night, it was great," said senior forward Will Coleman. "It felt like a turning point. Guys played hard, stuck together and had each others' backs and didn't give up on each other."

The Tigers are 14-4 overall and 3-1 in Conference USA play.

Southern Miss sprinted to a 29-11 advantage in the opening 10 minutes of the game, but Memphis didn't give up.

"We showed a lot of maturity and toughness to be able to (remain composed) after being down 18, where maybe in the past or earlier in the year, we would've had trouble coming back," coach Josh Pastner said. "(In Wednesday's) game, we were able to keep our poise. Guys stepped up."

Houston started hot and held on to hand No. 18 UCF their first loss of the season on Saturday night.

The Cougars jumped out to a 36-21 lead in the first half and held on for a 76-71 victory.

"We've got a dream here that we want to fill this place up," first-year coach James Dickey said of Hofheinz Pavilion. "But in order to do that, you've got to win big games."

It was Houston's first win over a ranked opponent since 2005.

Southern Miss is looking to revive their defense in Saturday's game against Marshall.

After beating Houston 85-73 on Wednesday, USM coach Larry Eustachy wants to see better defense out of his team against the Thundering Herd.

"Too bad that we have to do that to win the game,” Eustachy said. “Our game is stopping people, and we didn’t. They shot 56 percent. We haven’t done that all year. They got some easy baskets.”