USF ATHLETICS GoUSFBulls.com
Bulls Defeat Furman Behind Balanced Attack
TAMPA, FLA., DEC. 2, 2019 – Xavier Castaneda (Chicago) scored a career-high 18 points and made four 3-pointers to lead USF to a 65-55 victory over Furman Monday evening at the Yuengling Center.
David Collins (Youngstown, Ohio) added 16 points and four assists and needs only 27 more points to become the 20th player in school history with 1,000 career points. Justin Brown (Atlanta) notched his first career double-double with 10 points and a career-best 10 rebounds.
Laquincy Rideau (West Palm Beach, Fla.) finished with 11 points, six rebounds and six assists to help USF hold a 46-31 advantage on the glass.
Noah Gurley led Furman with 19 points and Clay Mounce added 14 points and 12 rebounds.
Furman (7-2) used a 13-1 run midway through the first half to go ahead 18-11 and build its largest lead of the game. Brown answered for USF with a three-pointer that cut the deficit to four and ignited a 23-8 run that put the Bulls ahead 34-26.
USF (4-4) led by as many as nine in the second half before the Paladins trimmed the lead to three after a basket by Jordan Lyons. Castaneda scored on the ensuing possession and Collins stole the subsequent inbounds pass and converted an old fashioned three-point play to put the Bulls back up by eight.
USF hit free throws down the stretch to hold on for the win and improve to 18-6 at home against non-conference competition under head coach Brian Gregory.
Quotable
Head coach Brian Gregory’s thoughts on the win:
“I’m proud and happy for our guys because we beat a very good team tonight. They can score at a lot of different positions. They challenge you defensively, never to lose focus, and we really the last two days challenged our guys about getting back to playing our style of defense and sometimes having our defense keep us in there if our offense is floundering a little bit, which it was at points in the first half. But a tremendous defensive effort. It starts with Laquincy, who obviously did a great job on a high-level player in Jordan Lyons… It’s a great team win because it’s how we have to play – tough, hard-nosed, defend and rebound – and we did that tonight.”
Gregory on Xavier Castaneda, who went 4-for-5 from long range on the way to a career-high 18 points:
“Castaneda played a great game, just a tremendous game. I’m not surprised because he puts in the work. He’s in the gym every morning at 8 o’clock, getting extra shooting in. He knows it’s a phase of the game that he needs to improve in. He knows we have confidence in him when he’s open and ready to shoot to rise up and shoot it.”
Notable
• David Collins scored 16 points and needs 27 more for 1,000.
• USF connected on nine 3-pointers and has made at least one trey in 137 consecutive games.
• Michael Durr finished with a season-high 11 rebounds and has reached double figures in two straight games.
• Justin Brown made two three-pointers and is three shy from the 10th-most all-time in school history.
• Justin Brown finished with a career-high 10 rebounds and recorded his first career double-double.
Key Stats
24 – USF received 24 points from its bench, including a career-high 18 points from Xavier Castaneda.
4 – USF held Furman leading scorer Jordan Lyons (16.1 ppg) to four points.
25.0 – Furman shot just 25.0 percent from three-point range.
Up Next
USF continues a three-game homestand Friday at 8 p.m. when the Bulls host Dartmouth at the Yuengling Center.
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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 250 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 CBI championship.
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