South Florida’s men’s basketball team is heading back to the NCAA tournament for the first time in 14 years.
The Bulls beat Wichita State 70-55 in the American Conference tournament championship game on Sunday, claiming the automatic bid that goes with the trophy.
It’s USF’s first conference tournament championship since 1990 – 36 years – when they were in the Sun Belt. And it the program's first NCAA bid since 2012.
The Bulls (25-8), on an 11-game winning streak, will be the No. 11 seed against No. 6 Louisville (23-10) in the Buffalo region on Thursday.
The location will be familiar to USF coach Bryan Hodgson, who grew up in the Buffalo area, went to college at nearby Fredonia State University and spent time as a top assistant at the University of Buffalo under Nate Oats.
In Sunday’s American final at Birmingham, the No. 1 seed Bulls used a suffocating defense to shut down the No. 2 seed Shockers and leading scorer Kenyon Giles, who was held to five points.
Wes Enis scored 19 points to lead USF. Enis, one of the nation’s top 3-point shooters, was 0-for-5 from beyond the arc before hitting his first from long range at 13:38 of the second half. It keyed an important 6-0 run for the Bulls and gave them a 43-37 lead.
Enis finished only 3-for-11 from 3-point range.
Backcourt mate Joseph Pinion, another national leader from 3-point range, got into foul trouble early and finished 0-for-3 from outside the arc and five total points.
Conference Player of the Year Izaiyah Nelson contributed 13 points and six rebounds for the Bulls.
The Shockers (22-11) were led by Dillon Battle with 15 points.
