2026 American Conference men's basketball tournament

2026 American Conference men's basketball tournament
ClassificationDivision I
Season2025–26
Teams10
SiteLegacy Arena
Birmingham, Alabama
ChampionsSouth Florida (1st title)
Winning coachBryan Hodgson (1st title)
MVPWes Enis (South Florida)
TelevisionESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNews, ESPN+
2025–26 American Conference men's basketball standings
Conf. Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
South Florida † 15 – 3   .833 25 – 9   .735
Wichita State 13 – 5   .722 24 – 11   .686
Tulsa 13 – 5   .722 28 – 7   .800
UAB 11 – 7   .611 20 – 12   .625
Charlotte 9 – 9   .500 17 – 17   .500
North Texas 9 – 9   .500 19 – 14   .576
Florida Atlantic 9 – 9   .500 18 – 15   .545
Memphis 8 – 10   .444 13 – 19   .406
Tulane 8 – 10   .444 18 – 15   .545
Temple 8 – 10   .444 16 – 16   .500
Rice 7 – 11   .389 13 – 18   .419
East Carolina 6 – 12   .333 11 – 20   .355
UTSA 1 – 17   .056 5 – 25   .167
† 2026 American tournament winner
As of March 22, 2026

The 2026 American Conference men's basketball tournament was the postseason men's basketball tournament for the American Conference for the 2025–26 season. The tournament was held from March 11–15, 2026, at Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Alabama.[1][2] The winner, South Florida, received the conference's automatic bid to the 2026 NCAA tournament.

This was the first conference tournament under the American Conference name. In July 2025, the conference dropped the word "Athletic" from its name, renaming itself the American Conference.[3]

Seeds

Only the top ten conference teams will qualify to participate in the tournament.[4] Teams will be seeded by conference record. The conference adopted a stepladder format for the tournament, with the top two seeds receiving byes to the semifinals, the third and fourth seeds to the quarterfinals, and so on.[5]

Tiebreakers may be applied as needed to properly seed the teams.

Seed School Conference
record 		Tiebreaker 1 Tiebreaker 2
1 South Florida 15–3
2 Wichita State 13–5 1–1 vs. South Florida
3 Tulsa 13–5 0–2 vs. South Florida
4 UAB 11–7
5 Charlotte 9–9 2–0 vs. Rice
6 North Texas 9–9 1–1 vs. Rice 1–0 vs. Florida Atlantic
7 Florida Atlantic 9–9 0–1 vs. Rice 0–1 vs. North Texas
8 Memphis 8–10 2–1 vs. Tulane/Temple
9 Tulane 8–10 2–2 vs. Memphis/Temple
10 Temple 8–10 1–2 vs. Memphis/Tulane
DNQ Rice 7–11
DNQ East Carolina 6–12
DNQ UTSA 1–17

Schedule

Game Time * Matchup Score Attendance Television
First Round – Wednesday, March 11
1 6:00 p.m. No. 8 Memphis vs. No. 9 Tulane 69–81 ESPNews
2 8:00 p.m. No. 7 Florida Atlantic vs. No. 10 Temple 63–59 ESPN+
Second Round – Thursday, March 12
3 6:00 p.m. No. 5 Charlotte vs. No. 9 Tulane 74–60 ESPNU
4 8:00 p.m. No. 6 North Texas vs. No. 7 Florida Atlantic 74–70
Quarterfinals – Friday March 13
5 12:00 p.m. No. 4 UAB vs. No. 5 Charlotte 78–83 ESPN2
6 2:00 p.m. No. 3 Tulsa vs. No. 6 North Texas 90–84 3OT
Semifinals – Saturday, March 14
7 2:00 p.m. No. 1 South Florida vs. No. 5 Charlotte 86–64 ESPN2
8 4:00 p.m. No. 2 Wichita State vs. No. 3 Tulsa 81–68
Final – Sunday, March 15
9 2:15 p.m. No. 1 South Florida vs. No. 2 Wichita State 70–55 ESPN
* Game times in CDT; ()-ranking denotes tournament seeding.

Bracket

First Round
March 11
ESPNews, ESPN+		Second Round
March 12
ESPNU		Quarterfinals
March 13
ESPN2		Semifinals
March 14
ESPN2		Final
March 15
ESPN
1South Florida86
4UAB785Charlotte64
5Charlotte745Charlotte831South Florida70
8Memphis699Tulane602Wichita State55
9Tulane812Wichita State81
3Tulsa903Tulsa68
6North Texas746North Texas84 3OT
7Florida Atlantic637Florida Atlantic70
10Temple59

Source:[6]

Game Summaries

First Round

March 11
6:00 p.m. CDT
No. 8 Memphis 69, No. 9 Tulane 81
Scoring by half: 31–39, 38–42
Pts: 13 – Thedford
Rebs: 8 – Davis
Asts: 3 – Givens III		 Pts: 35 – Brumbaugh
Rebs: 8 – Brumbaugh
Asts: 3 – Tied (2)
Game 1
Legacy Arena
Birmingham, AL
Referees: Evans, Nance, Poole
March 11
8:00 p.m. CDT
No. 7 Florida Atlantic 63, No. 10 Temple 59
Scoring by half: 29–27, 34–32
Pts: 19 – Moretti
Rebs: 6 – Tied (2)
Asts: 3 – Moretti		 Pts: 16 – Ford
Rebs: 7 – Felt
Asts: 1 – Tied (4)
Game 2
Legacy Arena
Birmingham, AL
Referees: Casady, Land, Seales

Second Round

March 12
6:00 p.m. CDT
No. 5 Charlotte 74, No. 9 Tulane 60
Scoring by half: 18–20, 56–40
Pts: 29 – Bradford
Rebs: 16 – Bonke
Asts: 11 – Mingo		 Pts: 25 – Brumbaugh
Rebs: 8 – Williams Jr.
Asts: 3 – Daniels
Game 3
Legacy Arena
Birmingham, AL
Referees: Casady, Nieves, Ramona
ESPNU
March 12
8:00 p.m. CDT
No. 6 North Texas 74, No. 7 Florida Atlantic 70
Scoring by half: 34–30, 40–40
Pts: 24 – Stevenson
Rebs: 8 – Hammer Jr.
Asts: 7 – Terrell Jr.		 Pts: 20 – Elohim
Rebs: 8 – Elohim
Asts: 3 – Moretti
Game 4
Legacy Arena
Birmingham, AL
Referees: Evans, Nance, Rorke

Quarterfinal Round

March 13
12:00 p.m. CDT
No. 4 UAB 78, No. 5 Charlotte 83
Scoring by half: 33–31, 45–52
Pts: 20 – Rivera
Rebs: 9 – Rivera
Asts: 15 – Westry		 Pts: 35 – Mingo
Rebs: 9 – Bonke
Asts: 6 – Tied (2)
Game 5
Legacy Arena
Birmingham, AL
Referees: Jones, Nieves, Shannon
ESPN2
March 13
2:00 p.m. CDT
No. 3 Tulsa 90, No. 6 North Texas 84 (3OT)
Scoring by half: 25–36, 44–33 Overtime: 4–4, 6–6, 11–5
Pts: 26 – Riley
Rebs: 11 – Behrend
Asts: 5 – Riley		 Pts: 21 – Stevenson
Rebs: 8 – Arnett
Asts: 5 – Terrell Jr.
Game 6
Legacy Arena
Birmingham, AL
Referees: Poole, Ramnanan, Rorke

Semifinal Round

March 14
2:00 p.m. CDT
No. 1 South Florida 86, No. 5 Charlotte 64
Scoring by half: 40–33, 46–31
Pts: 24 – Enis
Rebs: 10 – Omojafo
Asts: 5 – Enis		 Pts: 15 – Bonke
Rebs: 9 – Bonke
Asts: 2 – Elliott
Game 7
Legacy Arena
Birmingham, AL
Referees: Howard, Jones, Shannon
ESPN2
March 14
4:00 p.m. CDT
No. 2 Wichita State 81, No. 3 Tulsa 68
Scoring by half: 39–33, 42–35
Pts: 27 – Giles
Rebs: 14 – Berg
Asts: 6 – Gray Jr.		 Pts: 18 – Riley
Rebs: 6 – Behrend
Asts: 5 – Riley
Game 8
Legacy Arena
Birmingham, AL
Referees: Adams, Shortt, Shows

Final Round

March 15
2:15 p.m. CDT
No. 1 South Florida 70, No. 2 Wichita State 55
Scoring by half: 33–26, 37–29
Pts: 19 – Enis
Rebs: 7 – Jones
Asts: 3 – Tied (2)		 Pts: 15 – Battie
Rebs: 7 – Boyd
Asts: 4 – Boyd
Championship
Legacy Arena
Birmingham, AL
Referees: Adams, Shortt, Shows

Awards and Honors

All-Tournament Team

Player Team
Will Berg Wichita State
Wes Enid MVP South Florida
Kenyon Giles Wichita State
Dezayne Mingo Charlotte
Izaiyah Nelson South Florida

MVP denotes Most Valuable Player

Source: [7]

See also

References

  1. ^ "2026 American Men's Basketball Championship - American Conference". theamerican.org. Retrieved January 7, 2026.
  2. ^ Ashworth, Thomas (May 30, 2025). "Birmingham set to host American Athletic Conference basketball tournaments in 2026". al. Retrieved January 7, 2026.
  3. ^ Writer, Brett Vito Staff (July 21, 2025). "American Athletic Conference rebrands, switching to just American Conference". Denton Record-Chronicle. Retrieved January 7, 2026.
  4. ^ Writer, Brett Vito Staff (July 30, 2025). "American Conference set to move to 10-team basketball tournaments". Denton Record-Chronicle. Retrieved January 7, 2026.
  5. ^ "Basketball Tiebreakers" (PDF). American Conference. SIDEARM Sports. Retrieved January 25, 2026.
  6. ^ "2026 MBB Championship Bracket (PDF) - American Conference" (PDF). theamerican.org. Retrieved January 7, 2026.
  7. ^ "South Florida Wins 2026 American Conference Men's Basketball Championship". theamerican.org. March 15, 2026. Retrieved March 16, 2026.
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