Matchup: USF (13-16, 6-10) vs. Cincinnati (18-10, 11-5)
Date: Tuesday, March 3
Time: 7 p.m. (EST)
Location: Tampa, Fla. | Yuengling Center
TV: ESPNU (Paul Sunderland, Sean Harrington)
Radio: Bulls Unlimited (Jim Lighthall, Joey Johnson)
TAMPA, FLA., MARCH 2, 2020 – The USF men’s basketball team shoots for its third consecutive win when the Bulls return to the Yuengling Center to host Cincinnati on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in a white out game.
USF (13-16, 6-10) posted a 64-58 road win over Temple on Sunday and leapfrogged the Owls in the league standings. Junior guard Justin Brown (Atlanta) scored a game-high 13 points and added nine rebounds to record his ninth game of at least seven rebounds this year. Brown has been on fire as of late and is averaging 17.7 points and 8.0 rebounds per game while shooting 45.5 percent from beyond the arc over the last three games.
Sophomore Michael Durr (Atlanta) added 12 points, seven rebounds and three blocks Sunday against Temple and has scored in double figures in three straight games for the first time in his career. Overall, Durr leads USF with 6.1 rebounds per game to go along with 6.6 points per game.
Junior guard David Collins (Youngstown, Ohio) leads the USF offense with 13.8 points per game and enters play Tuesday needing just 10 points to move into ninth place on the Bulls’ all-time scoring list. Senior Laquincy Rideau (West Palm Beach, Fla.) is second on the team with 12.6 points per game and ranks 10th in the NCAA with 2.4 steals per game.
THE OPPONENT
Cincinnati (18-10, 11-5) has lost two of its last three games after falling at No. 25 Houston on Sunday to fall to 4-6 on the road this season. On offense, Cincinnati ranks second in The American in scoring offense with an average of 72.8 points per game.
Senior guard Jarron Cumberland averages a team-high 15.3 points per game to go along with 126 assists and 28 steals, while fellow senior Tre Scott adds 11.3 points per game and a league-best 10.5 rebounds per game. Guard Keith Williams (12.1 ppg) and forward Chris Vogt (11.4 ppg) also score in double figures for the Bearcats.
QUOTABLE
USF Head Coach Brian Gregory on the matchup against Cincinnati:
“We go into this game playing pretty good basketball, and we’ve found some ways to win some close games. We’ve got some guys playing their best basketball of their careers. Cincinnati has really good players. Williams is athletic and is as tough as anybody in the league. Moving Cumberland to point guard has been a little bit of an adjustment, but he’s still one of the best playmakers in the league because he can see over the defense and has a great feel for the game. They have a heck of a team when you add the big fella inside. They’ve played in a ton of close games, and where they lost most of those early on, they’ve won most of those as of late.”
NOTABLE
• USF is 8-33 against Cincinnati in the all-time series that dates back to the 1974-75 season.
• USF head coach Brian Gregory is five wins away from 300 career victories and is coaching his 100th game at USF.
• David Collins has made 413 career free throws and ranks third all-time in school history and second in AAC history.
• Laquincy Rideau ranks 10th in the NCAA with 2.4 steals per game and has the 10th-most in the nation with 69.
• Justin Brown is shooting 45.7 percent from three-point range over the last six games.
• Laquincy Rideau has the third-most career steals of any player in American Athletic Conference history with 170.
• USF is 19-6 since the start of last season when Justin Brown scores in double figures.
• David Collins has attempted the 20th-most free throws in the NCAA this season with 193.
• USF ranks 16th in the NCAA in scoring defense by allowing just 62.2 points per game.
• USF has held 26 of its 29 opponents under their season scoring average.
• David Collins ranks 10th all-time at USF in scoring with 1,231 career points.
• Justin Brown has made the eighth-most career three-pointers in school history with 152.
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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For tickets, contact the USF Ticket Office at 1-800-Go-Bulls or by going online to USFBullsTix.com.
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