IRVING, Texas – No. 7 seed Wichita State will take on 10
th-seeded Tulsa in the first round of the 2022 Air Force Reserve American Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Championship, to be held March 10-13 at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.
Thursday's WSU-Tulsa tipoff is set for a little after 2 p.m. CT and the game will air on ESPNU. The winner advances to Friday's quarterfinal round against No. 2 seed SMU (6 p.m. CT, ESPNU).
The Shockers (15-12, 6-9) started league play with four-straight losses but have since won six of their last 11 to rise to the No. 7 spot. They twice defeated Tulsa (10-19, 4-14) during the regular season and won their lone matchup with SMU (21-7, 12-5) in Wichita.
Tulsa locked in its No. 10 seed on Sunday by sinking a half-court buzzer-beater to defeat UCF, 73-72.
The 137
th meeting between WSU and Tulsa will be the seventh in a postseason setting and the first since the quarterfinals of the 1995 Missouri Valley Conference tournament in St. Louis. The schools split six MVC tournament contests between 1984 and 1995, highlighted by Shocker wins in the 1985 and 1987 title games.
WSU has a chance to sweep three games from its longtime rival for only the second time in series history. The 1988 Shockers defeated Tulsa three times in a span of 16 days, capped by an MVC quarterfinal win in Peoria, Ill.
WSU's No. 7 seed is its lowest since the 2009 MVC tournament when it finished in a three-way tie for fifth-place but landed on the No. 7 line due to tiebreakers.
The Shockers have won at least one game in every conference tournament since 2009 and have advanced to the semifinal round in every year since 2010 (11-straight).
No. 1 seed and defending tournament champion Houston (26-5, 15-3) has won or shared three of the last four regular-season titles. This is the Cougars' second go-around as top-seed (2019). UH will play Friday at Noon CT against the winner of Thursday's tournament opener between No. 8 seed Cincinnati (17-14, 7-11) and No. 9 East Carolina (15-14, 6-11).
SMU held off Tulane at home, 74-68, to hang onto the No. 2 seed – its highest since 2017 when it took the title as the No. 1. The Mustangs also won the event in 2015.
No. 3 Memphis (19-9, 13-5) has momentum after defeating Houston, 75-61, on Sunday for its 10
th win in the last 11 games. The Tigers play the late game Friday (8 p.m. CT) against the survivor of Thursday's contest between No. 6 UCF (17-11, 9-9) and No. 11 South Florida (8-22, 3-15).
Temple (17-11, 10-7) earned the No. 4 seed after defeating USF, 75-47, on Sunday and will face upstart Tulane (13-13, 10-7) on Friday at 2 p.m. CT on ESPN2. The fifth-seeded Green Wave earned a bye in the bracket for the first time in their eight seasons in the league. No Tulane team had ever been seeded higher than seventh.
Fans may visit www.TheAmerican.org/MBB for the latest information the 2022 Championship, including links for single-session tickets and all-session ticket packages.
Air Force Reserve American Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Championship
Mar. 10-13, 2022
Fort Worth, Texas | Dickies Arena
Thursday, March 10
Game 1: No. 9 East Carolina vs. No. 8 Cincinnati – Noon CT | ESPNU
Game 2: No. 10 Tulsa vs. No. 7 Wichita State – 2 p.m. CT | ESPNU
Game 3: No. 11 South Florida vs. No. 6 UCF – 6 p.m. CT | ESPNU
Friday, March 11
Game 4: Winner Game 1 vs. No. 1 Houston – Noon p.m. CT | ESPN2
Game 5: No. 5 Tulane vs. No. 4 Temple – 2 p.m. CT | ESPN2
Game 6: Winner Game 2 vs. No. 2 SMU – 6 p.m. CT | ESPNU
Game 7: Winner Game 3 vs. No. 3 Memphis – 8 p.m. CT | ESPNU
Saturday, March 12
Game 8: Semifinal 1, Winner of Games 4 & 5 – 2 p.m. CT | ESPN2
Game 9: Semifinal 2, Winner of Games 6 & 7 – 4 p.m. CT | ESPN2
Sunday, March 13
Game 10: Championship, Semifinal Winners – 2:15 p.m. CT | ESPN
