Bulls Basketball Newsletter: USF wraps up the regular season in dominating fashion
The Bulls head into the American Conference tournament scoring hot!
USF holds off Memphis, clinches 1-seed in the American tournament
In the American Conference preseason poll, USF was picked to finish second in the league just behind Memphis. On Thursday, the Bulls got to prove that prediction wrong, and they fittingly did it on the Tigers’ home floor.
The Bulls beat Memphis 96-89 at FedExForum to clinch an outright American Conference regular-season championship.
The win was USF’s eighth in a row. It is the first time the Bulls have beaten Memphis twice in the same season. USF came into the season with an 8-34 record against the Tigers.
Senior guard Wes Enis had a game-high 29 points for the Bulls. It’s the sixth time Enis has had 25 or more points this season. He played all 40 minutes of the game. Senior forward Josh Omojafo added 21 points.
Memphis was led by senior guard Dug McDaniel. He had 25 points and seven assists on the team’s senior night.
The loss was Memphis’ seventh in a row, the program’s longest losing streak since the 1998-99 season.
Thursday’s game was the first time USF played in a game decided by single digits since Feb. 15, an 83-81 overtime win against FAU.
The game saw 47 fouls and 57 free throws between the teams. The game didn’t end until after 11:30 p.m. Eastern.
USF had a short turnaround as they headed back home for the final game of the regular season.
USF punctuates regular season with big win over Charlotte
The celebration at the Yuengling Center was supposed to take place after the game on Sunday. As it turned out, the entire game was a party for this Bulls basketball squad.
USF put a bow on a record-breaking regular season with an 83-60 rout of the Charlotte 49ers.
The Bulls won their ninth game in a row. It was the eighth time the Bulls have won by 20 or more points this season.
The win was USF’s 23rd of the regular season, the most wins in a regular season in program history. The previous high was set in the 2023-24 season with Amir Abdur-Rahim on the sidelines.
“People may not understand, but this really wasn’t possible with coach and what he did here,” Hodgson said after the game. “I don’t know if I take this job if I had not seen what he did here.”
USF was led by guards Joseph Pinion and Wes Enis, who scored 22 and 20 points, respectively.
The guards’ performances led to some history. Enis’ four made 3-pointers and Pinion’s five made 3-pointers helped both reach 100 made 3-pointers this season. It is the first time in program history that anyone has reached 100 3-pointers in a single season. It is just the 12th time in Division I history a team has had two players reach 100 made 3-pointers in the same season.
USF had 24 assists and only six turnovers in Sunday’s game. USF ranks in the top 50 in the country in assist-to-turnover ratio this season while playing at the 14th-quickest adjusted tempo.
“I’ve been doing this for 18 years, and this is the most selfless driven group of young men I’ve ever coached,” Hodgson said.
The loss was Charlotte’s third in a row and seventh in its last nine games. The 49ers are the fifth seed in the American Conference tournament.
Junior center Anton Bonke was the only 49er to score in double figures with 13 points.
Before the game, USF honored six seniors: Izaiyah Nelson, Joseph Pinion, Josh Omojafo, Devin Haid, Damion Collins and Isaiah Jones.
After the game, confetti rained down and the Bulls cut down the nets to celebrate their regular-season title. USF went against the norm and unveiled the American regular-season banner after the game instead of waiting until next season.
“Being able to have that happen right after the game, it felt amazing,” Nelson said after the game.
The Bulls won in front of a season-high 6,710 fans at the Yuengling Center. The final three games USF played at the Yuengling Center in 2026 all had crowds of 6,500-plus people.
Up next, USF will travel to Birmingham looking to win its first American Conference Tournament ever. The Bulls will likely need to win the tournament to secure a bid in the NCAA Tournament.
“I don’t have to talk about focus with these guys. They know what we got at stake and they want to win,” Hodgson said about the upcoming American Conference tournament. “They know that we’re the best team in the league when we put our heads down and work, and so we’re going to get to work this week with that in mind.”
USF won’t play until Saturday, when it will be in the semifinals of the American Conference tournament.