After having its momentum and winning streak broken, Southern Miss suddenly has more pressing issues to worry about than its wounded pride.

The Golden Eagles (20-4, 7-2) are still tied for first place in Conference USA, but three other teams are hot on their heels. One of them, Central Florida (18-6, 7-3), comes to Hattiesburg today with a chance to grab its piece of first place and rack up an impressive victory that would bolster its NCAA Tournament resumé.

Central Florida hasn’t won in Hattiesburg since 2008, and USM is 10-0 at home this season. Southern Miss won the first meeting this season, 78-65 on Jan. 28 in Orlando.

“It’s a challenge, but if you want to compete to be in the upper echelon of this league then you have to be able to get yourself ready to play against the best team,” UCF coach Donnie Jones said. “Right now they are playing the best basketball of anyone and it’s going to be a great challenge for us.”

Southern Miss had won five in a row and 16 of 17 before Wednesday’s stunning 71-61 loss to C-USA also-ran UAB. Southern Miss coach Larry Eustachy pulled no punches in evaluating his team after the loss.

“You can look at anything you want to look at,” Eustachy said. “We got our (tails) kicked every way, upside down. We can look at this, look at that. We got hammered by a much more determined, much more physical, far superior team tonight.”

That loss not only snapped the Golden Eagles’ winning streak, it turned the next two games — against Central Florida and Tulsa (14-10, 7-3) — into must-wins if they’re to maintain their grip on the top spot in the league.

The top four teams receive a first-round bye in the C-USA Tournament, but another loss could hurt Southern Miss in other ways. It entered the week ranked in the top 10 of the NCAA’s Ratings Percentage Index, which is used for seeding and to award at-large bids. A top-10 RPI ranking at the end of the season would all but guarantee an NCAA bid.

Southern Miss needs to avoid a late-season losing streak to keep its RPI high and its case for an at-large bid strong, should it falter in the conference tournament.

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