Florida’s college basketball teams to tip off conference tournament play

FLORIDA — UCF begins play in its first Big 12 Tournament at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, needing to win the conference tourney championship to secure a spot in the men’s NCAA Tournament. 

The 12th-seeded Knights (16-14 overall, 7-11 Big 12) will face 13th-seeded Oklahoma State (12-19, 4-14) in the first round at Kansas City, Mo. 

Darius Johnson will lead UCF, averaging 14.8 points, 3.7 assists and 2.3 steals, and Jaylin Sellers is averaging 16 points over the past 10 games.

The Knights rank third in the Big 12 at limiting opponent scoring, giving up 67 points, while holding opponents to 40.9% shooting.

UCF’s average 6.6 made 3-pointers per game this season is only 0.1 more made shots on average than the 6.5 per game Oklahoma State allows. Oklahoma State averages 8.1 made 3-pointers per game this season, 1.2 more made shots on average than the 6.9 per game UCF allows.

Oklahoma State averages 12.4 turnovers per game and is 6-5 when committing fewer turnovers than opponents.

The Knights defeated the Cowboys 77-71 on Feb. 28 in Stillwater.

One Central Florida team already has punched its ticket to the NCAA Tournament. Stetson defeated Austin Peay 94-91 on Sunday to win the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament and its auto-bid to the NCAA Tournament. It marks the first time the Hatters are headed to college basketball’s championship tournament.

Jalen Blackmon scored a career-high 43 points, making 14 of 17 free throws for the Hatters (22-12). 

Blackmon’s and-1 after a tough driving layup gave Stetson an 87-84 lead with 1:11 remaining. After a dunk by Austin Peay’s Sai Witt, Stetson went back ahead by three when Aubin Gateretse made two free throws.

Dezi Jones missed a 3-pointer for the Governors and Austin Peay had to foul with 34 seconds left. Blackmon made both free throws and Witt answered with a three-point play to make it 91-89. Blackmon made 3 of 4 from the line in the final 13 seconds to send Stetson to the NCAA Tournament for the first time.

Gateretse made 11 of 15 free throws and finished with 13 points along with seven rebounds. Stephan Swenson had 13 points and Alec Oglesby added 10 for the second-seeded Hatters.

Witt had 28 points and 10 rebounds and Jones had 17 and 11 for the fourth-seeded Govs (19-15). DeMarcus Sharp scored 16 off the bench, Isaac Haney had 13 and Ja’Monta Black 11.

At the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament in Charlotte, N.C., 14th-seeded Miami (15-16 overall, 6-14) takes on No. 11-seeded Boston College (17-14, 8-12) at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

Ninth-seeded Florida State (16-14, 10-10) doesn’t make its debut in this year’s ACC tourney until noon Wednesday, when it will face No. 8-seeded Virginia Tech (18-13, 10-10). 

The Wednesday winners will advance to play the tournament’s top four seeded teams on Thursday in the quarterfinals.

In the Southeastern Conference Tournament, sixth-seeded Florida (21-10, 11-7 SEC) doesn’t begin competition in Nashville, Tenn., until the second round at 9:30 p.m. Thursday. The Gators will face the winner between 11th-seeded Georgia (16-15, 6-12) and 14th-seeded Missouri (8-23, 0-18), which will be played Wednesday.

At the American Athletic Conference Tournament in Fort Worth, Texas, USF (23-6, 16-2 AAC) is seeded No. 1 and can spend its time preparing because it doesn’t have to play until 1 p.m. Friday. The Bulls will face the winner of eighth-seeded East Carolina (11-9, 7-11) and No. 9-seeded Tulsa (14-4, 7-11). 

The winners of the conference tournaments receive automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament, which begins March 19.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.