USF stands one game away from immortality

40 minutes.

That’s how close the South Florida Bulls are to their first conference tournament title since 1990 and their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2012.

A chance to be immortalized among Bulls fans for years to come.

The team that stands in their way? The Wichita State Shockers.

The No. 2-seeded Shockers, who along with USF had a bye to the semifinals, cruised to an 81-68 victory over Tulsa on Saturday.

Wichita State is looking for its first conference tournament title since 2017 and its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2021.

The teams have played twice this season, splitting the matchups.

On Jan. 18, the Shockers downed USF in overtime 86-85 at the Yuengling Center. The game was a back-and-forth affair, with Wichita State leading by as much as 15 points early in the first half, only for that lead to be erased by halftime. In the second half, USF led by as many as 13, but the Shockers stormed back to force overtime and ultimately win in the extra frame.

Then on Feb. 11, the teams played a rock fight at Charles Koch Arena. USF held the Shockers to a season-low 58 points in the win. Wichita State shot 32% from the floor that night. The Bulls also scored a season-low 66 points in the victory.

Wichita State senior guard Kenyon Giles is the conference’s second-highest scorer, averaging 19.7 points per game. He has made 112 3-pointers this season, the most in the American Conference. Giles shoots 38.4% from behind the arc. He had 27 points against Tulsa in the semifinals Saturday. No other Shocker averages more than 10.7 points per game.

Junior center Will Berg was the American Conference Sixth Man of the Year. He averages 8.8 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. Berg had 28 rebounds combined in two games against the Bulls this season.

Junior guard Wes Enis has had four straight 20-point outings for the Bulls. He leads the team, averaging 16.5 points per game. Five Bulls average double figures this season.

USF senior guard Joseph Pinion has been seeing a big basket. He is averaging 23 points and 5.5 3-pointers made in his last two games. Pinion is shooting 45.8% from 3-point range during that stretch.

The game will feature teams that play at drastically different tempos. Wichita State has the 239th-fastest adjusted tempo in the nation, while the Bulls play at the 12th-fastest adjusted tempo in the country.

USF boasted the American’s highest-scoring offense in the regular season, averaging 88.4 points per game. Saturday, the Bulls set a program record for points scored in a single season.

Wichita State has the league’s second-best scoring defense, allowing 70.5 points per game. The Shockers rank 30th in the country in opponent effective field goal percentage.

While the teams might play contrasting styles, what they do have in common is they are coming into today’s championship red hot. USF has won 10 games in a row, the second-longest winning streak in program history. The Shockers have won seven games in a row. Their last loss came against USF on Feb. 11.

The two best teams in the American with a spot in the Big Dance on the line. It can’t get much better than that.

Tipoff is set for 3:15 p.m. on ESPN at Legacy Arena at the BJCC.