Four American Athletic Conference men's basketball teams improved to 2-0 in action on Saturday, Nov. 13.

Saturday, November 13
UCF 95, Miami (Fla.) 89 - Box Score
Wichita State 64, South Alabama 58 - Box Score
Cincinnati 73, Georgia 68 - Box Score
Memphis 90, NC Central 51 - Box Score
Georgia Southern 53, South Florida 41 - Box Score
Air Force 59, Tulsa 58 - Box Score
Southern 73, Tulane 70 - Box Score
USC 76, Temple 71 - Box Score

UCF 95, Miami (Fla.) 89 - Box Score
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) — Darin Green Jr. scored 23 points with five 3-pointers, C.J. Walker had 14 points and 11 rebounds, and Central Florida beat Miami 95-89 on Saturday.

UCF led 43-35 at the break and opened the second half on a 9-0 run to build the largest lead of the game at 17. That’s when Miami’s Isaiah Wong took over, scoring 15 straight points for the Hurricanes to get within 60-52.

Green made UCF’s 11th and final 3-pointer with 1:25 left for an 84-74 lead. Miami took advantage of a pair of UCF turnovers and got it to 92-89 with 10 seconds left on Jordan Miller’s layup. But Dre Fuller Jr. sealed it with two free throws.

Brandon Mahan added 15 points, making 10 straight free throws, for UCF (2-0). Isaiah Adams added 12 points.

UCF outrebounded Miami 43-23 to help win its third game in 11 attempts against the Hurricanes. The Knights also have nonconference games scheduled against Oklahoma, No. 22 Auburn, No. 20 Florida State and sixth-ranked Michigan this season.

Kameron McGusty led Miami (1-1) with 28 points and Wong, who led the Atlantic Coast Conference in scoring last season, finished with 20. Sam Waardenburg, who missed all of last season, added 16 points and Anthony Walker had 12. McGusty made 14 of 17 free throws, and Miami attempted 39.

Miami missed 11 of its first 12 3-point attempts and finished 6 for 26.

Wichita State 64, South Alabama 58 - Box Score
WICHITA, Kan. -- — Ricky Council IV had 19 points and eight rebounds as Wichita State beat South Alabama 64-58 on Saturday.
 
Qua Grant had 13 points for Wichita State (2-0). Dexter Dennis added eight rebounds and three blocks. Morris Udeze had 12 rebounds.
 
Javon Franklin had 18 points and 12 rebounds for the Jaguars (1-1). Charles Manning Jr. added 13 points.

Cincinnati 73, Georgia 68 - Box Score
CINCINNATI (AP) — Hayden Koval buried a dagger of a 3-pointer from the top of the key, Jeremiah Davenport drove for a layup with just over a minute remaining and Cincinnati turned back a Georgia rally for a 73-68 win on Saturday night.

Davenport and Mika Adams-Woods each scored 11 points for the Bearcats (2-0) with David Dejulius adding 10. Koval’s 3-pointer was his only basket but the 7-foot-1 center pulled down seven rebounds, as did Davenport.

In all, 10 Bearcats scored as new coach Wes Miller, in his second game, defeated Tom Crean’s Bulldogs.

Braelen Bridges scored 24 points on 11-of-15 shooting to lead Georgia (1-1), while also grabbing eight rebounds. Jailyn Ingram added 13 points and Aaron Cook 10 for the Bulldogs.

Cook’s jump shot with 3:30 remaining cut Cincinnati’s lead to 63-59, and Jabri Abdur-Rahim made two free throws for a 65-61 score at the 2:53 mark. After Cincinnati’s late spurt, Abdur-Rahim hit a jumper that pulled the Bulldogs to 70-67 with 23 seconds left but Cincinnati closed with three from the line.

Cincinnati scored 48 points in the paint to Georgia’s 38, and turned 13 Georgia turnovers into 19 points.

Memphis 90, NC Central 51 - Box Score
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Freshman Emoni Bates scored 15 points and Landers Nolley added 12 to help No. 12 Memphis defeat North Carolina Central 90-51 on Saturday night.

Jalen Duren and Lester Quinones added 10 points each. Duren also had 10 rebounds for the Tigers (2-0), who have won both of their first two games in dominating fashion.

“I think we came out serious from the beginning. We did not relax,” Memphis coach Penny Hardaway said. “... We didn’t take them lightly because we felt like they were a really good opponent.”

Eric Boone had 11 points to lead the Eagles (0-2), who shot 26.2% and were 3 of 25 from 3-point range — missing 14 of their 15 long-range shots in the second half. N.C. Central committed 26 turnovers.

“Anytime you have that, it’s a win-win,” Hardaway said of the N.C. Central’s shooting percentages both overall and from the perimeter.

Memphis freshman Josh Minott had nine points, nine rebounds and a pair of blocks on Saturday.

“Before I got here, I watched the defense. I think they had the No. 1 defense in efficiency in the country last year,” he said of Memphis. “As I got here, I realized why that was the case. We stress defense so much. It’s just something that every day we are striving to get better.”

Similar to the Tigers’ opening win against Tennessee Tech, Memphis controlled the pace, and its defense pestered the Eagles up and down the court.

“We just wanted to be full throttle from the jump. We know we’re capable of a good press,” Minott said.

Memphis did have a problem with ballhandling in the first half, fumbling away passes and slowing momentum, and part of that was because North Carolina Central went to a zone defense.

Memphis would continue adding into its lead in the second half, with defense creating turnovers. The Tigers outscored North Carolina Central 38-10 to start the second half.

“The only thing was that after shooting 41 free throws, we only made 31,” Hardaway said. “And we gave up 19 offensive rebounds and turned the ball over 19 times with only 13 assists.

“We still have work to do.”

Georgia Southern 53, South Florida 41 - Box Score
TAMPA, Fla. -- — Elijah McCadden had 13 points as Georgia Southern topped South Florida 53-41 on Saturday.
 
Cam Bryant had 11 points for Georgia Southern (2-0). Andrei Savrasov added 10 points. Kamari Brown had seven rebounds.
 
DJ Patrick had 18 points for the Bulls (1-1). Russel Tchewa added nine rebounds.

Air Force 59, Tulsa 58 - Box Score
TULSA, Okla. –– Sam Griffin's game-high 21 points were not enough as Air Force overcame an 11-point deficit to take a 59-58 win in the opening round game of the Sunshine Slam in front of 2,538 fans Saturday afternoon at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.
 
AFA's Camden Vender Zwaag knocked down his third three-pointer of the game with 0:23 on the clock to take the 59-58 lead. Griffin's turnaround jumper in the paint with 0:01 left bounced around the rim and off, thus giving the Falcons the road victory.
 
Both teams are now 1-1 on the season.

Southern 73, Tulane 70 - Box Score
NEW ORLEANS -- — Jayden Saddler had 13 points and 11 assistants and Southern edged Tulane 73-70 on Saturday.
 
P.J. Byrd had 12 points, nine assists and six rebounds for Southern (1-1). Tyrone Lyons added 12 points. Brion Whitley had 11 points.
 
Kevin Cross had 20 points for the Green Wave (1-1). Jalen Cook added 19 points and seven assists. Jaylen Forbes had 12 points.

USC 76, Temple 71 - Box Score
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Chevez Goodwin scored a career-high 19 points and USC held on after almost blowing a 23-point second-half lead, beating Temple 76-71 on Saturday night.

Isaiah White added 12, Boogie Ellis 11 and Drew Peterson 10 for the Trojans (2-0). It was the 200th career win for coach Andy Enfield.

Leading 55-32 with about 17 minutes left, USC went without a field goal over nearly eight minutes as Temple cut the score to 58-54 while Khalif Battle scored 11 points, nine via the 3-pointer. Isaiah Mobley finally got USC a 3-pointer with 9:25 left and the Trojans clung to their lead.

A 3-pointer by Zach Hicks followed by a Battle free throw cut the lead to three with 9.9 seconds left but Peterson made two free throws to seal the outcome.

Battle, who had 22 points in a season-opening win over Maryland-Baltimore County, finished with 26 points and five 3-pointers for Temple (1-1).

USC shot 59% in the first half to charge to a 19-point lead while Temple shot only 31% and was only 1 of 10 from the arc.

The Owls led over much of the opening nine minutes but Ethan Anderson hit a 3-pointer to snap a tie and, after a Temple bucket, the Trojans went on a 13-0 run with five from White and four from Ellis. USC finished the final three minutes of the half on a 13-5 run, sparked by five points from Peterson, to lead 46-27 at the break.

USC fell off to 47% shooting for the game but Temple shot only 38% percent. Neither team was sharp at the free-throw line, USC making 18 of 27 and the Owls 15 of 28. While Temple had a slight rebounding edge and 22 second-chance points to nine for the Trojans, USC dominated 42-20 in the paint.