No. 25 South Florida has claimed the outright American Athletic Conference men's basketball regular season championship, along with the No. 1 seed for the 2024 American Men's Basketball Championship in action on March 2.
Saturday, March 2
Florida Atlantic 79, Tulane 73 - Box Score
BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) Vladislav Goldin scored 21 points and grabbed 12 rebounds as Florida Atlantic beat Tulane 79-73 on Saturday.
Alijah Martin scored 13 points and added 11 rebounds for the Owls (22-7, 12-4 American Athletic Conference). Jalen Gaffney had 13 points.
Collin Holloway finished with 19 points for the Green Wave (13-15, 4-12). Jaylen Forbes added 14 points and two steals for Tulane. In addition, Kevin Cross finished with 14 points. The Green Wave extended their losing streak to six in a row.
Florida Atlantic went into the half with a 36-29 lead. Goldin put up nine points in the half. Florida Atlantic turned a five-point second-half lead into a 20-point advantage with a 17-2 run to make it a 53-33 lead with 13:42 left in the half. Goldin scored 12 second-half points.
Tulsa 72, Temple 67 - Box Score
PHILADELPHIA (AP) Cobe Williams had 21 points in Tulsa's 72-67 win over Temple on Saturday.
Williams added five rebounds and seven assists for the Golden Hurricane (15-14, 6-11 American Athletic Conference). PJ Haggerty scored 21 points and added five assists. Jared Garcia was 6 of 14 shooting (1 for 5 from 3-point range) to finish with 14 points, while adding eight rebounds.
The Owls (11-18, 4-12) were led by Hysier Miller, who recorded 19 points, four assists and two steals. Joran Riley added 12 points for Temple. In addition, Jahlil White had nine points.
Williams put up 13 points in the first half for Tulsa, who led 32-23 at halftime. Haggerty's 16-point second half helped Tulsa finish off the five-point victory.
UTSA 77, SMU 73 - Box Score
DALLAS (AP) Jordan Ivy-Curry scored 33 points and UTSA beat SMU 77-73 on Saturday night.
Ivy-Curry shot 12 for 22 (5 for 9 from 3-point range) and 4 of 4 from the free throw line for the Roadrunners (11-19, 5-12 American Athletic Conference). PJ Carter scored 23 points while going 8 of 15 (5 for 9 from 3-point range). Dre Fuller Jr. shot 5 for 7, including 2 for 3 from beyond the arc to finish with 13 points.
Zhuric Phelps finished with 18 points for the Mustangs (19-10, 10-6). Jalen Smith added 15 points for SMU. In addition, Ricardo Wright finished with 13 points and two steals.
Carter's 17-point second half helped UTSA finish off the four-point victory.
South Florida 76, Charlotte 61 - Box Score
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) Being ranked for the first time in school history hasn't impacted South Florida's momentum.
Chris Youngblood scored 17 points, Kasean Pryor had 16 points and nine rebounds, and the 25th-ranked Bulls beat Charlotte 76-61 on Saturday for their 14th straight win, clinching the American Athletic Conference regular-season title outright.
Selton Miguel chipped in with 13 points for the Bulls (22-5, 15-1), who haven't lost since Jan. 7 and entered the AP Top 25 for the first time ever earlier this week.
“It's different, and I'm not going to give you some coach speak that it's not,” South Florida coach Amir Abdur-Rahim said. “You have a different target on your back now."
But he said he's stressed to his players that they need to focus on “the same old boring habits” to continue winning.
“There’s still a lot of season left and if you want to rest on being ranked we aren’t going to make as much noise as we can,” Abdur-Rahim said.
Last year Florida Atlantic, another American Athletic Conference team, surged late in the season and made a memorable run to the Final Four. Abdur-Rahim believes the conference is loaded this year with four or five teams deserving of making the NCAA Tournament.
Lu’Cye Patterson had 17 points for Charlotte (17-11, 11-5), which had its eight-game home win streak snapped.
Charlotte entered the game looking for its second home victory over a Top 25 team after upsetting then-No. 17 Florida Atlantic 70-68 on Jan. 6.
And the 49ers were sharp early on, jumping out to a 12-7 lead against the Bulls after making 5 of 9 shots to open the game. But the Bulls would storm back to take a 33-28 lead at the break, stepping up their defense and holding the 49ers to 5-of-18 shooting for the remainder of the first half.
Pryor's 3-pointer from the corner gave the Bulls their first double-digit lead less than two minutes into the second half and Charlotte never mounted a serious challenge.
Pryor drove across the lane a few moments later, dribbled between his legs and made a step-back jumper from the foul line while drawing a foul for a 3-point play to increase the lead.
Charlotte continued to struggle with missed shots and turnovers in the second half, and Kobe Knox scored on back-to-back offensive rebounds, including a powerful two-handed dunk to push the lead to 17.
Wichita State 87, Rice 66 - Box Score
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) Colby Rogers had 25 points, Harlond Beverly scored 23 and Wichita State beat Rice 87-66 on Saturday night.
Rogers made 7 of 15 shots (7 of 9 from 3-point range) and 4 of 4 from the free-throw line for the Shockers (13-17, 5-12 American Athletic Conference). Beverly made 7 of 11 shots, including all three of his 3-point attempts and 6 of 7 foul shots. He also grabbed five rebounds. Dalen Ridgnal sank three 3-pointers, scoring 11.
Travis Evee led the Owls (11-18, 5-11) with 18 points and four assists. Mekhi Mason and Keanu Dawes both scored 12 with Mason adding five assists.