The South Florida men’s basketball team opens play tonight in the 2022 Air Force Reserve American Athletic Conference Championship against UCF at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, TX. Game time is slated for 7 p.m. on ESPNU.

The No. 11 seeded Bulls (8-22, 3-15 AAC) and the sixth-seeded Knights (17-11, 9-9 AAC) split their regular season series. USF torched UCF 75-51 on Jan. 15 in Tampa while UCF made 14 three-pointers in a 68-49 blowout victory in Orlando on Feb. 3.

South Florida holds the all-time series lead at 25-20, but UCF has won 11 of the last 14 games in the series.

A victory over the Knights would mean a second matchup against Memphis. The Tigers earned a first round bye as the tournament’s third seed. The Bulls and Tigers would square off on Friday at 9 p.m. ET on ESPNU.

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-- The Bulls and Knights will face off for the third time this year, and first time ever in the postseason.

-- Russel Tchewa is averaging 11.6 ppg over his last 11 games (7.9 season avg).

-- Corey Walker Jr. is averaging 8.6 ppg, 7.3 rpg, 1.75 blocks and 1.5 steals over the last eight games.

-- USF ranks 54th in the NCAA in scoring defense (65.1 ppg) - second in the American.

-- The Bulls have shot 35 percent or better from three-point range in five of their last eight games.