TAMPA, MAY 8, 2020 – The USF men’s basketball team added another big piece to its 2020 recruiting class on Friday, when head coach Brian Gregory announced the addition of 7-foot, 260-pound center Russel Tchewa, a Texas Tech transfer.
Tchewa appeared in 23 games last season as a freshman at Texas Tech and helped the Red Raiders to 18 wins and nine victories in Big 12 play. His presence in the post helped Texas Tech feature one of the top defenses in the NCAA in 2019-20, finishing the season ranked 29th in the country in scoring defense (63.5 ppg) and 28th in turnovers forced (16.0 tpg).
“We are pleased to welcome Russel into our Bulls’ family,” Gregory said. “Russel is a gifted, young post player who impacts the game on both ends of the court. He has great size, strength and athletic ability, and his energy on the court is high level. We are excited about his work ethic and his skill level. Russel has a bright future in our program.”
A native of Douala, Cameroon and a three-star recruit, Tchewa played one season at Putnam Science Academy in Connecticut before enrolling at Texas Tech. Putnam Science Academy is the same school current Bull Alexis Yetna attended.
Tchewa played three years of prep basketball in Italy for Grissin bon Reggio Emilia and scored a career-high 30 points in a win over Virtus Bologna. He also helped lead his team to the semifinals of the conference championship tournament.
Tchewa competed at the Adidas Next Generation tournament and averaged 13.5 points and 5.4 rebounds per game while shooting 64 percent from the field in helping his team reach the Final Four in Belgrade.
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About USF Men’s Basketball
The USF men’s basketball team is led by head coach Brian Gregory. On March 22, 2017, Gregory was introduced as the 10th head coach in program history. He previously led 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 nearly 300 career head coaching wins and six postseason appearances, including the 2010 NIT Championship. 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 47-year 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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