Sixth Seeded Knights Open Conference Tourney Thursday

ORLANDO – The UCF men's basketball team closed out the 2021-22 regular season on Sunday with an overall record of 17-11, including a 9-9 record in American Athletic Conference play, earning the Knights the sixth seed in the upcoming 2022 Air Force Reserve American Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Championship.
  
As the six seed, UCF will face 11th seed South Florida at 7:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. CT on Thursday, March 10 inside Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. Television coverage will be on ESPNU with John Schriffen and Perry Clark on the call, while FM 96.9 The Game will have radio coverage with Voice of the Knights Marc Daniels calling the action.

UCF split the season series with the Bulls in the regular season, falling on the road by a score of 75-51 on Jan. 15, but winning at home 68-49 on Feb. 3. South Florida holds the all-time series lead at 25-20, but the Knights have won 11 of the last 14 games played against South Florida. The Knights are 12-8 against South Florida in Orlando and have won the last eight contests at home dating back to Feb. 5, 2014.
 
UCF and South Florida have never previously met in the American Athletic Conference tournament.

If the Knights beat South Florida, Memphis (19-9, 13-5 AAC) awaits them in the quarterfinals. As the third seed, the Tigers earned a bye in the first round.
 
UCF's 9-9 league mark is the best for the Knights since their famous 2018-19 season where they made a run in the NCAA Tournament before falling to Duke in the second round.
 
UCF will aim to win in its first American Athletic Conference Championship and their fifth conference tournament overall. The Knights won the Atlantic Sun Tournament four times in 1994, 1996, 2004 and 2005.