{"id":186582,"date":"2026-03-11T01:33:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T01:33:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/186582\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T01:33:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T01:33:11","slug":"usf-mens-basketball-team-celebrates-conference-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/186582\/","title":{"rendered":"USF men’s basketball team celebrates conference championship"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"USF <\/p>\n

TAMPA, Fla. – Following the USF men’s basketball<\/a> team’s 83-60 win over Charlotte on Sunday, the Bulls didn’t just enjoy their win, they celebrated.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“We had multiple goals this year. We’ve accomplished just one of those,” said head coach Bryan Hodgson. “I’m excited, but I’m also excited to get back to work.”<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

The backstory:<\/p>\n

After their win Sunday, the Bulls<\/a> invited fans onto the court as they unveiled a 2026 American Conference champion banner and ceremoniously cut down the nets.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But while the Bulls took their moment to celebrate in the spotlight, the focus was quickly shifted to what lies ahead.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

READ: USF’s new president faces challenges including new football stadium, artificial intelligence<\/a><\/p>\n

“We just have to keep that mindset that we’re 0-0 and anything is possible,” said senior forward Izaiyah Nelson. “We have to come in with the same mindset that we had going on this nine game winning streak.”<\/p>\n

And what lies ahead for the Bulls, first, is the American Conference tournament, where they will be the No. 1 seed and have a bye to the tournament semifinals. Having just ended the regular season on a nine-game winning streak, however, the players believe they’re hitting their stride at the right time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

READ: USF beach volleyball excited to kick off inaugural season<\/a><\/p>\n

What they’re saying:<\/p>\n

“I think we’re playing our best basketball right now,” said junior guard Wes Enis. “I think we’re going to continue to stack day by day. That’s what Coach [Hodgson] talks about; getting one perfect better and not looking too far ahead.”<\/p>\n

While the job for the Bulls is only half over, along the road to the postseason this year, the players found a belief in themselves.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

“It’s contagious,” Hodgson said. “We’re a player-led program and that’s the things that lead you to victory.”<\/p>\n

Victory, however, is something that will be harder to come by in a month synonymous with brackets, upsets and underdogs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

“This is a whole new season when it comes to March and everyone in the locker room knows that,” Enis said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

READ: USF senior Carla Brito turns senior night into family affair<\/a><\/p>\n

What’s next:<\/p>\n

The Bulls head to Birmingham, Alabama, where they await their semifinal opponent on Saturday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Source: The information in the story below was gathered by FOX 13 Sports Reporter Sean Barie while covering the USF men’s basketball team’s regular season final.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sports<\/a>NCAA Sports<\/a>University of South Florida Bulls<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. – Following the USF men’s basketball team’s 83-60 win over Charlotte on Sunday, the Bulls didn’t…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":186583,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[33736,67359,110,135,137,136,53788],"class_list":["post-186582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-ncaa-basketball","tag-ncaa-sports","tag-sports","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-usf-basketball"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}