South Florida opens Diamond Head Classic vs. BYU

TAMPA, Fla. (July 15, 2021) – The South Florida Men's Basketball program will face BYU at 10:30 p.m. (ET), Dec. 22, on ESPNU to open the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic inside the Stan Sheriff Center in Honolulu. ESPN Events revealed the complete tournament bracket and matchups Thursday. The tournament features the Bulls, BYU, Liberty, Northern Iowa, Stanford, Vanderbilt, Wyoming and host Hawai'i with 12 games played over three days.

USF has never faced Hawai’i, Northern Illinois or Stanford.

This will be the second time USF has faced BYU. However, the meeting in Hawai’I will be the first time the Bulls have faced the Cougars since a 77-75 loss in double overtime on Nov. 26, 2010, in the South Padre Invitational.

BYU was a No. 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament this year. They lost to UCLA 73-62 in the first round of the tournament.

BYU is led by senior guard Alex Barcello who is coming off of a season where he was an AP All-America Honorable Mention. He is one of only four AP All-Americans returning to the NCAA next season. Barcello was also named to the West Coast Conference First Team. In the 2019-2020 season BYU finished the season 24-8 losing in the first round of the WCC Tournament. The Cougars have finished in the AP Top-25 two consecutive seasons. USF is 8-3 all-time vs. WCC opponents. Its last win was March 28, 2019 over Loyola Marymount. The Bulls last loss to a WCC team was December 23, 2013 to Santa Clara.

Following the game against BYU, the Bulls will meet Vanderbilt or Hawai’i on Dec. 23, depending on the First-Round results. USF closes out its stay in the Aloha State on Christmas.