TAMPA, FLA., FEB. 19, 2020 – The USF men’s basketball team embarks on a two-game road trip that begins Thursday at 7 p.m. (EST) when the Bulls travel to Wichita, Kan., to take on Wichita State at Koch Arena.
USF (11-14, 4-8) turned in another strong defensive performance against Tulsa in its most recent game. The Bulls limited the Golden Hurricane to 56 points and have now held 11 opponents to fewer than 60 points this season. In addition, USF ranks 12th in the NCAA in scoring defense by limiting teams to an average of 61.4 points per game.
Junior guard David Collins (Youngstown, Ohio) scored a team-high 14 points to go along with five rebounds and one steal against Tulsa. Collins already ranks 13th all-time at USF in scoring with 1,191 points and enters play Thursday against the Shockers needing four more points to move into 12th place. Overall, Collins is first on the team and 10th in The American with 14.0 points per game.
Redshirt senior guard Laquincy Rideau (West Palm Beach, Fla.) added 10 points, four rebounds, five assists and one steal against Tulsa and stands 10th in the NCAA and second in The American with 2.4 steals per game. Rideau enters play with 160 career thefts and needs three more to move into third place on the league’s all-time list. Offensively, Rideau is second on the team with 12.6 points per game and has scored at least 20 points in two of the last three games.
Junior Justin Brown (Atlanta) is third on the team with 8.0 points per game and second with 5.0 rebounds. Brown has also made a team-best 42 three-pointers and ranks ninth all-time at USF with 142 career treys. Sophomore Ezacuras Dawson III (Miami) ranks second in the league in three-point field goal percentage by making 41.4 percent of his attempts from downtown. Sophomore Michael Durr (Atlanta) paces USF and ranks 16th in the conference with 6.0 rebounds per game.
THE OPPONENT
Wichita State (19-6, 7-5) enters the week having won two straight after defeating Tulane 82-57 last Sunday. The Shockers, however, have lost three of their last five games but still own a 14-2 record at Koch Arena.
Sophomore guard Erik Stevenson paces the Wichita State offense with 11.9 points per game and a team-high 41 steals. Senior forward Jaime Echenique adds 10.9 points per game, a .491 field goal percentage and a team-best 6.4 rebounds per game.
QUOTABLE
USF Head Coach Brian Gregory on the matchup with Wichita State:
“I thought we were very good defensively against Wichita State in the first matchup, but we’re going to have to do a better job rebounding the ball. I thought some of their offensive rebounds hurt us. We have to find ways, when we’re in a lull offensively, to manufacture some points, either in transition or with the offensive glass. I think we’re playing better than we were when we faced them earlier. We’re rebounding the ball better, especially offensively, and other than the first 20 minutes against Tulsa, the way we’ve played is much more competitive and capable of beating some of the best teams in the league. Wichita State is one of the toughest places to play in the country, but our guys have responded to those environments, so I think our guys are looking forward to the challenge.”
NOTABLE
• USF is 1-2 against Wichita State in the all-time series that dates back to the 2017-18 season.
• USF head coach Brian Gregory is seven wins away from 300 career victories.
• USF is limiting opponents to just 25.4 percent from three-point range over the last six games.
• David Collins has made 395 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.
• Laquincy Rideau has the fourth-most career steals of any player in American Athletic Conference history with 160.
• USF is 17-5 since the start of last season when Justin Brown scores in double figures.
• USF ranks 12th in the NCAA in scoring defense by allowing just 61.4 points per game.
• USF has held 23 of its 25 opponents under their season scoring average.
• David Collins ranks 13th all-time at USF in scoring with 1,191 career points.
• Justin Brown has made the ninth-most career three-pointers in school history with 142.
• Ezacuras Dawson III ranks second in The American with a .414 three-point percentage.
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.
To stay up-to-date on the latest USF men’s’ basketball news, follow the Bulls on social media (Twitter | Facebook | Instagram).
For tickets, contact the USF Ticket Office at 1-800-Go-Bulls or by going online to USFBullsTix.com.
– #GoBulls –
