HUNTINGTON - The phrase "11th-seeded Houston" has a strange ring to older college basketball fans.

Remember, this is the school of Elvin Hayes and "The Game of the Century." And the school of Hakeem Olajuwon, Clyde Drexler and the "Phi Slama Jama" offense. Otis Birdsong and Michael Young have their jerseys retired there, too.

The Cougars are the team that thundered from the pack to win the 2010 Conference USA tournament. So what in the name of Guy Lewis are they doing entering this week's tournament in the 11th spot?

Whatever the reason, that's where they ended up, and they will play No. 6 Marshall in the first round Wednesday at Texas-El Paso's Don Haskins Center. Tipoff is at 7:30 p.m. EST, with the winner taking on host UTEP at the same time Thursday.

The Thundering Herd (21-10) is playing some of the best basketball in the league, winning six of its last seven. Houston (12-17) is playing the league's worst ball, losing 11 of its last 12.

And the slope downhill has gotten slicker, as the Cougars have lost five of their last six by double digits. The "highlight" of that stretch? A loss to last-place Tulane.

And finally, a galling fact for Cougar fans: Their team just lost to cross-town rival Rice, finishing the 10th-place Owls' first two-game sweep of Houston since both played in the Southwest Conference.

Houston fans have plenty of reason to make the 750-mile trip across Texas, but that is all about their women's team. That squad went undefeated in Conference USA and is a prohibitive favorite to win the concurrent women's tournament.

It has been a long six-week stretch of uphill sledding for Houston men's coach James Dickey, the former Texas Tech coach who replaced Tom Penders. Penders resigned after his team lost in the first round of the 2010 NCAA tournament.

But the Thundering Herd only remembers the third game of the Cougars' cold stretch, and it wasn't exactly a runaway - MU went ahead 63-62 on Aundra Williams' layup with 11 seconds left, then survived Damier Pitts' two missed free throws with 1 second left.

Herd coach Tom Herrion takes zero solace in the Cougars coming off a 72-57 loss to Rice last weekend.

"They lost a lot of close games. It can happen - snake-bitten or whatever," Herrion said. "Like anything, especially at this time of the year, everybody's going to start with a fresh start and have that kind of mentality. They still have a handful of guys who are a year removed from making a great run in this tournament last year."

That was a four-game run out of the No. 7 seed, culminating with a 81-73 finals win over UTEP.

That begins with Zamal Nixon, who scored 13 points in that championship game. He now averages an even 10 points and has dished out 137 assists. Six-foot-9 Maurice McNeil averages 13.2 points and 7.5 rebounds, and Adam Brown averages 13.0 points.

Brown and Darion Thibodeaux have combined for 104 3-pointers on a team that shoots 38.6 percent from that range, second in C-USA.

McNeil and 6-6, 230-pound freshman Alandise Harris gave Marshall the most problems Feb. 1 at Hofheinz Pavilion. Both had 16 points, with McNeil going 6-of-9 from the floor and Harris going 12-of-20 from the foul line. Kendrick Washington is a load inside at 6-7, 260.

"Down there, they got to the foul line in abundance against us," Herrion said. "We fouled too much, Harris really hurt us, got to the foul line 20 times by himself. So we've got to do a better job defending the post.

"They drive it really well; they throw it to the post a lot. They've got good depth on the baseline and their guards are really good."

Reach Doug Smock at 304-348-5130 or dougsm...@wvgazette.com.