American Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball Report March 21, 2021 - Second Round 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 State-/RV 11-2 .846 72.7 68.5 16-6 .727 71.5 66.8 10-2 5-2 1-2 8-2 L 2 First regular season title since joining league Houston6/6 14-3 .824 74.9 58.9 25-3 .893 78.0 57.8 15-0 5-3 5-0 9-1 W 8 Grimes named to three All-America Third Teams Memphis 11-4 .733 70.1 61.1 17-8 .680 72.0 62.8 10-1 4-3 3-4 8-2 W 1 Tigers recorded 20 steals vs. UCF (conference record) SMU 7-4 .636 68.9 67.2 11-6 .647 74.6 68.1 6-2 5-2 0-2 5-5 L 2 Kendric Davis conference-record 14 assists vs. Cincinnati Cincinnati 8-6 .571 71.1 71.9 12-11 .522 68.9 72.3 5-5 5-5 2-1 6-4 L 1 Won 7 straight conference championship games UCF 8-10 .444 66.9 69.8 11-12 .478 67.2 69.4 6-3 4-8 1-1 7-3 L 1 Knights won 4 in a row to finish regular season Tulsa 7-9 .438 63.1 65.9 11-12 .478 68.4 65.6 7-5 4-4 0-3 3-7 L 1 Win over Houston was 1st top-5 win since 1996 USF 4-10 .286 63.0 72.4 9-13 .409 65.9 71.4 4-6 3-4 2-3 2-8 L 1 Collins became 10th player in league with 1,500 pts. Temple 4-10 .286 65.0 69.1 5-11 .313 65.8 68.8 3-5 2-5 0-1 2-8 L 1 Battle averaging 25 ppg in last 3 games Tulane 4-12 .250 62.8 68.8 10-13 .435 63.9 66.5 6-6 3-6 1-1 3-7 L 1 Forbes 19.7 ppg in last 7 games, 15.0 ppg before that East Carolina 2-10 .167 62.8 70.1 8-11 .421 66.8 67.9 7-6 1-4 0-1 1-9 L 5 Gardner became 15th player in league with 1,400 pts. Rankings listed as AP/USA Today SCHEDULE & RESULTS THE AMERICAN TODAY ALL-CONFERENCE HONORS 2021 AIR FORCE RESERVE HOUSTON ADVANCES TO SECOND ROUND Player of the Year AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE Second-seeded Houston moved on to the NCAA Quentin Grimes, Jr., G, Houston Tyson Etienne, So., G, Wichita State MEN’S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP Championship Second Round with an 87-56 win FORT WORTH, TEXAS over No. 15 seed Cleveland State. The Cougars will Coach of the Year now face No. 10 seed Rutgers on Sunday, March Issac Brown, Wichita State* THURSDAY, MARCH 11 21 inside Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis at 7:10 No. 8 USF 73, No. 9 Temple 71 p.m. ET/6:10 p.m. CT on TBS. Defensive Player of the Year No. 10 Tulane 77, No. 7 Tulsa 70 DeJon Jarreau, Sr., G, Houston No. 6 UCF 72, No. 11 East Carolina 62 Six Cougars scored double-digit points, led by Freshman of the Year FRIDAY, MARCH 12 Quentin Grimes with 18 points. Tramon Mark had 15 Moussa Cisse, C, Memphis No. 1 Wichita State 68, No. 8 USF 67 points and was joined in double figures by Marcus No. 5 Cincinnati 74, No. 4 SMU 71 Sasser (14 points), Fabian White Jr. (12), Justin Most Improved Player No. 2 Houston 77, No. 10 Tulane 52 Gorham (10) and Brison Gresham (10). Justin Gorham, Sr., F, Houston No. 3 Memphis 70, No. 6 UCF 62 Sixth Man of the Year Houston led by eight at halftime, 37-29, but Boogie Ellis, So., G, Memphis SATURDAY, MARCH 13 opened the second half on a 27-6 run to break Darien Jackson, Sr., G, Tulsa No. 5 Cincinnati 60, No. 1 Wichita State 59 open the game. No. 2 Houston 76, No. 3 Memphis 74 Sportsmanship Award With the win, Houston Kelvin Sampson earned J.P. Moorman II, Sr., F, Temple SUNDAY, MARCH 14 his 664th career win as a head coach, tying him No. 2 Houston 91, No. 5 Cincinnati 54 All-Conference First Team for 38th all-time with legendary head coach John Jayden Gardner, Jr., F, East Carolina Wooden. THURSDAY, MARCH 18 Quentin Grimes, Jr., G, Houston* NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP FIRST FOUR Landers Nolley II, So., G, Memphis Kendric Davis, Jr., G, SMU* WEST LAFAYETTE, INDIANA HOUSTON, WICHITA STATE EARN NCAA BIDS Tyson Etienne, So., G, Wichita State* No. 11 Drake 53, No. 11 Wichita State 52 Houston, the 2021 Air Force Reserve American Athletic Conference Men’s Basketball All-Conference Second Team NIT FIRST ROUND (FRISCO, TEXAS) Championship winner, and Wichita State, The Keith Williams, Sr., G, Cincinnati No. 2 Boise State 85, No. 3 SMU 84 American’s regular-season champion, both earned DeJon Jarreau, Sr., G, Houston bids to the 2021 NCAA Championship. Justin Gorham, Sr., F, Houston FRIDAY, MARCH 19 Marcus Sasser, So., G, Houston NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP FIRST ROUND MIDWEST NO. 2 SEED HOUSTON Brandon Rachal, Sr., F, Tulsa BLOOMINGTON, INDIANA Houston’s No. 2 seed is the highest seed the No. 2 Houston 87, No. 15 Cleveland State 56 All-Conference Third Team Cougars have earned since competing as a No. 2 Brandon Mahan, Sr., G, UCF seed and advancing to the National Championship Darius Perry, Sr., G, UCF SATURDAY, MARCH 20 in the 1984 NCAA Tournament. Feron Hunt, Sr., G, SMU NIT FIRST ROUND (DENTON, TEXAS) Khalif Battle, So., G, Temple No. 1 Memphis 71, No. 4 Dayton 60 This is Houston’s third consecutive NCAA Jaylen Forbes, So., G, Tulane Tournament appearance, a first since 1982-84. Alterique Gilbert, R-Sr., G, Wichita State SUNDAY, MARCH 21 NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP SECOND ROUND All-Freshman Team INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA The Cougars are 30-26 all-time in 23 NCAA Isaiah Adams, G, UCF No. 10 Rutgers vs. No. 2 Houston (TBS)... 7:10 p.m. Tournaments with Final Four appearances in 1967, Tari Eason, F, Cincinnati 1968, 1982, 1983 and 1984. Moussa Cisse, C, Memphis THURSDAY, MARCH 25 Caleb Murphy, G, USF NIT QUARTERFINALS Damian Dunn, G, Temple Ricky Council IV, G, Wichita State No. 2 Boise State vs. No. 1 Memphis (ESPN) .... 9 p.m. All times ET and subject to change * denotes unanimous selections OFFICIAL BRACKET PRESENTED BY 20162021 DIVISION NCAA I MEN’S DIVISION I MEN’S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP FIRST ROUND SECOND ROUND SWEET 16 ELITE 8® NATIONAL SEMIFINALS NATIONAL SEMIFINALS ELITE 8® SWEET 16 SECOND ROUND FIRST ROUND MARCH 20 MARCH 22 MARCH 27–28 MARCH 29–30 APRIL 3 APRIL 3 MARCH 29–30 MARCH 27–28 MARCH 21 MARCH 19 FIRST FOUR® 16 Norfolk St. (16-7) 11 Wichita St. (16-5) Mount St. Mary's (12-10) 16 Michigan St. (15-12) 11 Mar 18 Mar 18 MARCH 18 Mar 18 Mar 18 16 Appalachian St. (17-11) W 11 Drake (25-4) W E Texas Southern (16-8) 16 E UCLA (17-9) 11 1 Gonzaga (26-0) Baylor (22-2) 1 Mar 20 Mar 19 16 Norfolk St./App St. Hartford (15-8) 16 8 Oklahoma (15-10) North Carolina (18-10) 8 Mar 20 Mar 19 9 Missouri (16-9) Wisconsin (17-12) 9 5 Creighton (20-8) Villanova (16-6) 5 Mar 20 Mar 19 12 UCSB (22-4) Winthrop (23-1) 12 4 Virginia (18-6) Purdue (18-9) 4 Mar 20 Mar 19 13 Ohio (16-7) North Texas (17-9) 13 WEST SOUTH 6 USC (22-7) Texas Tech (17-10) 6 Mar 20 Mar 19 11 Wichita St./Drake Utah St. (20-8) 11 3 Kansas (20-8) Arkansas (22-6) 3 Mar 20 Mar 19 14 Eastern Wash. (16-7) Colgate (14-1) 14 7 Oregon (20-6) Florida (14-9) 7 Mar 20 Mar 19 10 VCU (19-7) NATIONAL Virginia Tech (15-6) 10 CHAMPIONSHIP 2 Iowa (21-8) APRIL 5 Ohio St. (21-9) 2 Mar 20 Mar 19 15 Grand Canyon (17-6) Oral Roberts (16-10) 15 1 Michigan (20-4) Illinois (23-6) 1 Mar 20 SEMIFINALS SEMIFINALS Mar 19 16 Mt. St. Mary’s/Texas So. Drexel (12-7) 16 8 LSU (18-9) Loyola Chicago (24-4) 8 Mar 20 Mar 19 9 St. Bonaventure (16-4) Georgia Tech (17-8) 9 5 Colorado (22-8) Tennessee (18-8) 5 Mar 20 Mar 19 12 Georgetown (13-12) Oregon St. (17-12) 12 4 Florida St. (16-6) Oklahoma St. (20-8) 4 Mar 20 Mar 19 13 UNC Greensboro (21-8) Liberty (23-5) 13 EAST MIDWEST 6 BYU (20-6) San Diego St. (23-4) 6 Mar 20 #MARCHMADNESS Mar 19 11 Watch the tournament on these networks 11 Michigan St./UCLA or online at NCAA.COM/MARCHMADNESS Syracuse (16-9) 3 Texas (19-7) West Virginia (18-9) 3 Mar 20 Mar 19 14 Abilene Christian (23-4) Morehead St. (23-7) 14 7 UConn (15-7) Clemson (16-7) 7 Mar 20 *On March 14, the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee will select eight teams to play the First Four.