American Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Report March 11, 2021 Contact: Tom Fenstermaker, Director of Communications ([email protected]) 545 E. John Carpenter Freeway, Third Floor • Irving, Texas, 75062 • 336.259.1708 TheAmerican.org • Twitter: @American_MBB • Facebook: fb.com/AmericanConf • Instagram: AmericanConf 2020-21 STANDINGS AMERICAN OVERALL SCHOOL W-L PCT PF PA W-L PCT PF PA H A N L10 STREAK NOTABLE Wichita StateRV/RV 11-2 .846 72.7 68.5 15-4 .789 73.3 67.8 10-2 5-2 0-0 9-1 W 7 First regular season title since joining league Houston7/7 14-3 .824 74.9 58.9 21-3 .875 77.2 57.6 15-0 5-3 1-0 8-2 W 4 Grimes named to Sporting News All-America Third Team Memphis 11-4 .733 70.1 61.1 15-7 .682 72.1 62.3 10-1 4-3 1-3 8-2 L 1 Tigers recorded 20 steals vs. UCF (conference record) SMU 7-4 .636 68.9 67.2 11-4 .733 74.3 66.6 6-2 5-2 0-0 6-4 W 2 Kendric Davis conference-record 14 assists vs. Cincinnati Cincinnati 8-6 .571 71.1 71.9 10-10 .500 69.8 72.1 5-5 5-5 0-0 7-3 W 1 Won 7 of 9 conference games since returning from pause UCF 8-10 .444 66.9 69.8 10-11 .476 67.2 69.8 6-3 4-8 0-0 6-4 W 4 Knights won 4 in a row to finish regular season Tulsa 7-9 .438 63.1 65.9 11-11 .500 68.3 65.1 7-5 4-4 0-2 3-7 W 1 Win over Houston was 1st top-5 win since 1996 USF 4-10 .286 63.0 72.4 8-12 .400 65.4 71.6 4-6 3-4 1-2 2-8 L 4 Collins became 10th player in league with 1,500 pts. Temple 4-10 .286 65.0 69.1 5-10 .333 65.5 68.5 3-5 2-5 0-0 3-7 W 1 Battle averaging 25 ppg in last 3 games Tulane 4-12 .250 62.8 68.8 9-12 .429 63.9 65.8 6-6 3-6 0-0 3-7 L 4 Forbes 19.7 ppg in last 7 games, 15.0 ppg before that East Carolina 2-10 .167 62.8 70.1 8-10 .444 67.1 67.7 7-6 1-4 0-0 1-9 L 4 Gardner became 15th player in league with 1,400 pts. Rankings listed as AP/USA Today SCHEDULE & RESULTS THE AMERICAN TODAY ALL-CONFERENCE HONORS SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 28 YEAR-END HONORS ANNOUNCED Player of the Year Memphis 80, Cincinnati 74 Houston junior Quentin Grimes and Wichita State Quentin Grimes, Jr., G, Houston Tyson Etienne, So., G, Wichita State Houston 98, USF 52 sophomore Tyson Etienne both earned Player of the Year honors. Shocker head coach Isaac Brown Coach of the Year TUESDAY, MARCH 2 was a unanimous selection as Coach of the Year. Issac Brown, Wichita State* UCF 73, Tulsa 69 Memphis 73, USF 52 Houston had two more individual award winners Defensive Player of the Year as seniors DeJon Jarreau and Justin Gorham were DeJon Jarreau, Sr., G, Houston WEDNESDAY, MARCH 3 named Defensive Player of the Year and the Most Freshman of the Year Wichita State 78, Tulane 70 Improved Player, respectively. Memphis’ Moussa Moussa Cisse, C, Memphis Cisse was named the Freshman of the Year, while THURSDAY, MARCH 4 Tiger sophomore Boogie Ellis and Tulsa senior Most Improved Player Tulsa 107, Northeastern State 74 Darien Jackson both earned Sixth Man of the Year Justin Gorham, Sr., F, Houston Vanderbilt 82, Cincinnati 64 accolades. Temple senior J.P. Moorman II earned Sixth Man of the Year UCF 64, East Carolina 60 the league’s Sportsmanship Award. Boogie Ellis, So., G, Memphis Darien Jackson, Sr., G, Tulsa SATURDAY, MARCH 6 Brown, named interim head coach at Wichita RVWichita State 80, USF 63 State just before the season began on Nov. 17, led Sportsmanship Award the Shockers to The American’s regular-season J.P. Moorman II, Sr., F, Temple SUNDAY, MARCH 7 title with a 15-4 overall record and 11-2 tally in 9/7 All-Conference First Team Houston 67, Memphis 64 conference play. For his efforts, the interim title Jayden Gardner, Jr., F, East Carolina Cincinnati 82, East Carolina 69 has also been removed. Quentin Grimes, Jr., G, Houston* Landers Nolley II, So., G, Memphis 2021 AIR FORCE RESERVE Grimes is second in scoring in The American with Kendric Davis, Jr., G, SMU* AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE 17.9 points per game and eighth in the league with Tyson Etienne, So., G, Wichita State* MEN’S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP 6.2 rebounds per game. Etienne is fourth in scoring All-Conference Second Team with 17.1 points per contest and fourth in 3-point Keith Williams, Sr., G, Cincinnati THURSDAY, MARCH 11 field goal percentage at 40.0 percent. DeJon Jarreau, Sr., G, Houston No. 9 Temple vs. No. 8 USF (ESPNU) ..................Noon Justin Gorham, Sr., F, Houston No. 10 Tulane vs. No. 7 Tulsa (ESPNU) .............3 p.m. Jarreau was the 2019 Sixth Man of the Year, while Marcus Sasser, So., G, Houston No. 11 East Carolina vs. No. 6 UCF (ESPNU) ...7 p.m. Gorham is leading The American with 9.4 rebounds Brandon Rachal, Sr., F, Tulsa per game. Cisse leads the conference with 1.9 All-Conference Third Team FRIDAY, MARCH 12 blocks per game and is sixth in rebounding at 6.9 Brandon Mahan, Sr., G, UCF Temple/USF vs. No. 1 Wichita State (ESPN2) .Noon per contest. Darius Perry, Sr., G, UCF No. 5 Cincinnati vs. No. 4 SMU (ESPN2) .........3 p.m. Feron Hunt, Sr., G, SMU Tulane/Tulsa vs. No. 2 Houston (ESPNU) ........7 p.m. Ellis is averaging 9.3 points per game off the bench Khalif Battle, So., G, Temple ECU/UCF vs. No. 3 Memphis (ESPNU) ............10 p.m. for Memphis, while Jackson leads the league with a Jaylen Forbes, So., G, Tulane 65.1 percent field goal percentage. Moorman II is Alterique Gilbert, R-Sr., G, Wichita State All times ET and subject to change a two-time captain for the Owls and has been one All-Freshman Team of the most engaged student-athletes on Temple’s Isaiah Adams, G, UCF campus, including being a part of the newly-formed Tari Eason, F, Cincinnati student-athlete group, Owls4Justice. Moussa Cisse, C, Memphis Caleb Murphy, G, USF Damian Dunn, G, Temple Ricky Council IV, G, Wichita State * denotes unanimous selections AMERICAN NOTEBOOK AWARD CENTRAL IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS (as of 3/9) THE RECORD BOOK Houston ranks as the No. 2 team in the country in The American’s single-game records: Sporting News All-America scoring defense at 57.6 points per game and third Quentin Grimes, Jr., G, Houston (Third Team) in the nation in scoring margin at +19.6 per game. Individual Points 43 Jeremiah Martin, Memphis vs. Tulane, 2/20/19 42 Russ Smith, Louisville vs. Houston, 3/14/14 Wooden Award Late-Season Watch List The Cougars are third in the country in offensive 41 Jeremiah Martin, Memphis at USF, 2/3/19 Quentin Grimes, Jr., G, Houston rebounding with 14.65 per game. They are also fifth in total rebounds per game at 41.25 and is seventh Individual Field Goals Naismith Trophy Semifinalist for in rebounding margin at +9.1 per game. 15 Shaq Goodwin, Memphis at UCF, 1/26/16 Dedric Lawson, Memphis vs. Iowa, 11/26/16 Player of the Year Jeremiah Martin, Memphis vs. Tulane, 2/20/19 Quentin Grimes, Jr., G, Houston The Cougars leads the nation in field goal percentage defense at 37.0 percent. Three other Individual 3-Point Field Goals Lute Olson National Player of the Year teams from The American rank in the top 30, 11 Matt Williams, UCF vs. USF, 1/17/17 Watch List including Memphis (5th - 38.4), SMU (15th - 39.5) 10 James Woodard, Tulsa at SMU, 3/8/15 Qentin Grimes, Jr., G, Houston and Wichita State (26th - 40.1). Cameron Tyson, Houston vs. Our Lady of the Lake, 2/6/21 Kendric Davis, Jr., G, SMU Individual Free Throws In 3-point field goal percentage defense, Memphis 17 Sean Kilpatrick, Cincinnati vs. Nebraska, 12/28/13 Jerry West Award Finalist (SG of the Year) is second in 26.8, followed by Houston at fourth 16 Jayden Gardner, ECU vs. Appalachian State, 11/30/18 Quentin Grimes, Jr., G, Houston with 27.4 percent. Wichita State is 13th at 28.7. 15 Four tied, Last: David Collins, USF vs. Stony Brook, 3/20/19 Houston forward Justin Gorham is third in the country in offensive rebounds in per game at 4.26. Individual Rebounds WICHITA STATE WINS REGULAR SEASON TITLE 23 Shaq Goodwin, Memphis vs. Temple, 2/7/15 Wichita State clinched its first American Athletic Jordan Tolbert, SMU vs. Nicholls State, 12/16/15 Conference Men’s Basketball Regular Season SMU guard Kendric Davis ranks third in the country 22 Precious Achiuwa, Memphis at Tulane (OT), 2/29/20 Championship since joining the league in 2017- in assists per game at 7.6. 21 Trevon Scott, Cincinnati vs. UCF (2OT), 2/19/20 18. The Shockers’ previous best finish was tied Individual Assists for second in their first season in the conference.