Matchup: USF (12-16, 5-10) vs. Temple (14-14, 6-9)
Date: Sunday, March 1
Time: 12 p.m. (EST)
Location: Philadelphia, Pa. | Liacouras Center
TV: CBS Sports Network (Alex Del Barrio, Mike O’Donnell)
Radio: Bulls Unlimited (Jim Lighthall, Joey Johnson)
TAMPA, FLA., FEB. 28, 2020 – The USF men’s basketball team embarks on its final road trip of the regular season on Sunday at noon when the Bulls travel to Philadelphia, Pa., to face Temple at the Liacouras Center.
USF (12-16, 5-10) returned to its winning ways on Wednesday with a 73-68 overtime win against East Carolina behind 18 points and nine rebounds from junior guard Justin Brown (Atlanta). Brown connected on a season-high four 3-pointers and is shooting 41.4 percent from beyond the arc of the last five games. In addition, Brown is averaging 20.0 points and 7.5 rebounds per game over the last two games.
Sophomore forward Michael Durr (Atlanta) tied his career high with 15 points to go along with eight rebounds, one assist and one steal. Durr, who leads the team with 6.1 rebounds per game, has scored in double figures in back-to-back games.
Senior Laquincy Rideau (West Palm Beach, Fla.) poured in 14 points, three rebounds, five assists and one steal Wednesday against the Pirates. Rideau averages 12.7 points per game and ranks second in the league in steals (2.4 spg) and fourth in assists (4.0 apg).
Junior David Collins (Youngstown, Ohio) leads USF with 13.9 points per game while ranking 19th in the NCAA with 184 free throw attempts. Collins recently moved into 10th place on USF’s all-time scoring list and needs 21 more points to tie Hakim Shahid for ninth with 1,252 career points.
THE OPPONENT
Temple (14-14, 6-9) has lost two consecutive games and leads USF in the league standings by just one game. The Owls dropped a 72-69 decision Thursday at Wichita State to fall to 4-7 on the road this season. At home, however, Temple has won its last three league games at the Liacouras Center and is 8-5 overall in Philadelphia.
Senior guard Quinton Rose leads Temple with 16.4 points per game and is currently the all-time leading scorer in the American Athletic Conference. Junior guard Nate Pierre-Louis stands second on the team with 11.5 points per game to go along with a team-high 8.3 rebounds per game.
QUOTABLE
USF Head Coach Brian Gregory on the matchup at Temple:
“This will be a great challenge for us on the road. The last two games we’ve played against them went to overtime and we’re decided by two points or less. They were both great college basketball games, really epic battles. Quinton Rose is the all-time leading scorer in this conference and he’s just a tremendous, tremendous basketball player. Nate Pierre-Louis is one of my favorite players in the league because of how hard he plays. They’ve got a very talented team, and our guards are going to have to matchup really well against their guards. We have to go a great job of taking care of the basketball, and we need to build on the momentum that we got the other night against East Carolina.”
NOTABLE
• USF is 2-11 against Temple in the all-time series that dates back to the 2011-12 season.
• USF head coach Brian Gregory is six wins away from 300 career victories.
• David Collins has made 408 career free throws and ranks third all-time in school history and second in AAC history.
• Laquincy Rideau ranks 11th in the NCAA with 2.4 steals per game and has the 10th-most in the nation with 66.
• Justin Brown is shooting 41.4 percent from three-point range of the last five games.
• Laquincy Rideau has the third-most career steals of any player in American Athletic Conference history with 167.
• USF is 18-6 since the start of last season when Justin Brown scores in double figures.
• David Collins has attempted the 19th-most free throws in the NCAA this season with 184.
• USF ranks 20th in the NCAA in scoring defense by allowing just 62.4 points per game.
• USF has held 25 of its 28 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 ninth-most career three-pointers in school history with 149.
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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