IRVING, Texas — Florida Atlantic has won its first regular season Conference USA title and the Owls will be the No. 1 seed at the 2016 C-USA Championship presented by Buffalo Wild Wings at Pete Taylor Park in Hattiesburg, Miss., May 25-29.

Florida Atlantic (37-15 overall) won its final four conference games to finish with a 21-8 record in league play.

The Championship will feature the top eight teams in regular-season league play. The format is two double-elimination brackets with four teams each, with the winners of each bracket meeting in a single-elimination championship game.

The tournament began at 9 a.m. today as the No. 5 seed Louisiana Tech (37-16) battles No. 4 seed Rice (32-20). The Bulldogs just won three games over the Owls this weekend, marking the first time Rice has been swept in league play since joining C-USA for the 2006 season. Under second-year head coach Greg Goff, LA Tech enters the tournament having raised its win total by 12 games from last season and by 22 from the 2014 campaign. Rice, which is 27-9 all-time in C-USA Championship play, will be seeking to extend its streak of winning a regular season or conference tournament title to 21 years.

Top-seeded Florida Atlantic will open up against No. 8 seed Charlotte (23-30) at 12:30 p.m. The Owls, who followed up having the best overall record in Conference USA last season by winning the regular season title this year, have been nationally-ranked nearly all season and own seven wins against ranked opponents this season? Charlotte, an original member of Conference USA from 1996-2005 before returning two years ago, last appeared in the C-USA Championship in 2003. The 49ers won two-of-three games against Florida Atlantic in Boca Raton in early April.

Host Southern Miss (36-18) has participated in all 21 C-USA Championships and will be the No. 3 seed, playing the 4 p.m. game against No. 6 seed Old Dominion (32-22). The Golden Eagles, who began this week ranked as high as No. 13 in the country, did not meet the Monarchs during the regular season.

Defending tournament champion FIU (28-27) is the No. 7 seed and carries a six-game winning streak into its first round matchup with No. 2 seed Marshall (32-19) in the 7:30 p.m. game. The Thundering Herd are among the 10 most-improved teams in the country and have set school records for conference wins (21) and overall victories. Marshall won two-of-three regular season games at FIU in late March.

Game Schedule

Wednesday, May 25

Game 1 (5) Louisiana Tech vs. (4) Rice 9:00a

Game 2 (8) Charlotte vs. (1) Florida Atlantic 12:30p

Game 3 (6) Old Dominion vs. (3) Southern Miss 4:00p

Game 4 (7) FIU vs. (2) Marshall 7:30p

Thursday, May 26

Game 5 Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2 9:00a

Game 6 Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4 12:30p

Game 7 Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2 4:00p

Game 8 Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4 7:30p

Friday, May 27

Game 9 Winner Game 5 vs. Loser game 7 3:00p

Game 10 Winner Game 6 vs. Winner game 8 6:30p

Saturday, May 28

Game 11 Winner Game 7 vs. Winner game 9 9:00a

Game 12 Winner Game 8 vs. Winner game 10 12:30p

Game 13 Same teams as Game 11 4:00p (if necessary)

Game 14 Same teams as Game 12 7:30p (if necessary)

Sunday, May 29 (televised by CBS Sports Network)

Championship Game 1:00p

Southern Miss Sports Information