USF dominates the American Conference Men's Basketball Awards
It was a special season for Bulls and multiple people got honored with American Conference awards.
The South Florida Bulls wrapped the regular season as American Conference regular-season champions. So when the 2025-26 American Conference men’s basketball awards were announced, it was no surprise to see multiple Bulls honored.
USF head coach Bryan Hodgson won conference coach of the year. In his first season with the program, the Bulls finished the regular season with a 23-8 record, including a 15-3 mark in league play.
Hodgson joined Amir Abdur-Rahim (2023-24) and Stan Heath (2011-12) as the only coaches in program history to win conference coach of the year.
This season marked Hodgson’s third year as a collegiate head coach. He spent the previous two seasons leading the Arkansas State Red Wolves. Hodgson is just the 10th coach in the past 15 seasons to win back-to-back regular-season conference titles with two different teams. It’s the first time Hodgson has been recognized as conference coach of the year.
Senior forward Izaiyah Nelson became the first player in American Conference history to win player of the year, defensive player of the year and newcomer of the year in the same season. Nelson joined former Cincinnati forward Gary Clark as the only players in conference history to win both player of the year and defensive player of the year.
Nelson averaged 15.8 points per game and led the American with 9.8 rebounds per game and a 56.4% field goal percentage. He averaged three “stocks” (steals and blocks combined) per game. His 18 double-doubles this season are the sixth most in the country.
Nelson was unanimously selected as player of the year and is the first player in program history to win conference player of the year outright. He joins Chris Youngblood (2023-24) and Charlie Bradley (1982-83) as the only Bulls to win the award.
Nelson was also selected to the American All-Conference first team unanimously and was joined by his teammate, junior guard Wes Enis.
Enis was a flamethrower for the Bulls in his first season playing Division I basketball after transferring from Division II Lincoln Memorial University. He led the team with 16.5 points per game. He, along with teammate senior guard Joseph Pinion, became the first players in USF history to make 100 3-pointers in a season. Enis led the conference, averaging 3.4 3-pointers made per game.
Pinion earned American All-Conference third-team honors. He averaged 14.2 points per game this season and made 100 3-pointers while shooting an impressive 37.7% from behind the arc, fifth best in the league.
Nelson, Enis and Pinion were all selected to the All-Newcomer Team, with Nelson and Enis being unanimous selections.
Multiple Bulls on the All-Newcomer team shouldn’t be a shock. In Hodgson’s first season with the team, C.J. Brown was the only returning player to see the floor. USF had the 13th-biggest increase in wins from last season to this season in the country.
The highly decorated Bulls will now sit and wait until Saturday, when they will play in the American Conference tournament semifinals.