FORT WORTH, Texas (March 10, 2022) – The University of South Florida Bulls had the ball with a chance to win or tie in the final possession against UCF on Thursday night at Dickies Arena, but dropped a heartbreaking 60-58 contest in the opening round of the 2022 Air Force Reserve American Athletic Conference Championship.

Russel Tchewa (Douala, Cameroon) turned in his third double-double, and second in the final five games of the season. The center averaged 11.6 points over the last 12 games of his sophomore campaign, finishing the year with an 8.0 scoring average after averaging 3.3 a year ago.

"The development and improvement on this young roster has been evident. Russel is a prime example of that," said head coach Brian Gregory. "That continued development will be key for us moving forward. Experience will bring consistency, and that's something we lacked at times this year, but even without the tangible results in wins, this is a group that continued to show up every day with effort and passion with the desire to get better."

Five of the Bulls' final eight losses this season came by eight points or fewer, including three by four points or less.

"It was a hard-fought game, and I'm proud of the toughness our guys played with," Gregory added. "Give UCF credit for making plays down the stretch. We made some too. But, we just have to find a way to make a couple more. That was the difference over the last six weeks for us."

Thursday's tightly-contested affair featured 11 lead changes and 12 ties atop the scoreboard as neither side led by more than eight points.

South Florida's eight-point deficit came with 7:23 left in the second half, and the Bulls answered that with a seven-point surge to cut the UCF lead to 48-47 with 5:45 on the clock.

The Knights stretched their lead back to three on the ensuing possession, before Caleb Murphy (Youngstown, Ohio) knocked down his third triple of the game to knot the score at 50-50.

UCF answered with a three-pointer of its own to reclaim the lead at the 4:38 mark. A fastbreak bucket by Jamir Chaplin (Norcross, Ga.) followed by a pair of Javon Greene (McDonough, Ga.) free throws swung the lead back in favor of USF, 54-53, with 3:25 left.

Another UCF triple fell and the back-and-forth continued as Corey Walker Jr. (Jacksonville) answered with a jumper to tie the game at 56-56 with 1:36 remaining.

The Knights then knocked down their 10th three-point basket of the night, answered by another bucket by Walker Jr. to set up the finish. UCF went one of two from the charity stripe and the Bulls raced down the court with 17 seconds left, but came up short on two final attempts.

"I'm proud of how we stuck together. Obviously, this season didn't go the way we wanted it to, but you learn a lot from both sides of winning and losing," said Murphy. "We'll learn from this and continue to get better," added Tchewa.

Notable

• Murphy led USF on Thursday with 15 points and dished out a career-high eight assists for the third time this season.
• Chaplin finished the game with 11 points and eight rebounds, also matching a career high on the glass.
• Greene, who led the AAC in steals/game this season (1.8), tallied four in the game.
• South Florida's 16 assists and 49 rebounds on the night were the team's second-most this season in both categories.

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About USF Men's Basketball

The USF men's basketball team is led by head coach Brian Gregory, who enters his fifth season in 2021-22. Gregory was introduced as the 10th head coach in program history in March of 2017 after previously leading programs at Georgia Tech (2011-16) and Dayton (2003-11). Gregory spent nearly a decade as an assistant coach under Michigan State's Hall of Fame head coach Tom Izzo and helped the Spartans win the 2000 NCAA National Championship. Gregory owns over 300 career head coaching wins and six postseason appearances, including the 2010 NIT Championship with Dayton. In his second season at the helm of the Bulls, Gregory led the team to the best win turnaround in the NCAA, the most single-season wins in school history and the 2019 College Basketball Invitational championship. 
 
USF has retired three numbers in its history: Chucky Atkins (12), Charlie Bradley (30) and Radenko Dobras (31). The Bulls have earned three NCAA tournament bids, appeared in the NIT eight times and won the 2019 College Basketball Invitational.
 
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