MBB: South Florida Closes Regular Season Saturday at Wichita State


Matchup: 
USF (8-11, 4-9) vs. Wichita State (14-4, 10-2)
Date: 
Saturday, March 6
Time:
 1 p.m.
Location: 
Wichita, Kan. | Koch Arena
TV: 
ESPN+ (Shane Dennis, Bob Hull)
Radio: 
Bulls Unlimited (Jim Lighthall, Joey Johnston)

TAMPA, FLA., MARCH 5, 2021 – The USF men’s basketball team plays its final game of the regular season Saturday at 1 p.m. (EST) when the Bulls travel to Wichita, Kan., to face conference leader Wichita State at Koch Arena.

USF closed its home schedule Tuesday with a setback to Memphis on Senior Night. Despite the loss, junior guard Xavier Castaneda (Chicago, Ill.) scored a team-high 17 points and added five rebounds and four assists, while sophomore Jamir Chaplin (Norcross, Ga.) had eight points and four rebounds off the bench.

Senior guard David Collins (Youngstown, Ohio) leads the USF offense with 12.1 points per game, while juniors Michael Durr (Atlanta, Ga,) and Alexis Yetna (Paris, France) are tied for the team lead with 7.3 rebounds per game.

USF AND WICHITA STATE
USF and Wichita State will meet on the hardwood for the sixth time in school history when the two teams battle on Saturday. The Shockers own an 4-1 lead in the all-time series that dates back to the 2017-18 season. In the most recent match-up, Wichita State erased a 13-point deficit on its way to an 82-77 win in overtime earlier this season in Tampa. Tyson Etienne paces the Shockers with 25 points, six rebounds and four assists. USF senior David Collins led USF with 17 points to go along with five assists and three steals, while Alexis Yetna had a double-double with 11 points and 14 rebounds.  

ONE MORE TO GO
USF picked up its third league road win of the year Feb. 21 when the Bulls turned in an 83-76 victory at Temple. The Bulls enter play Saturday at Wichita State needing one more road win to register the most road wins in conference play since joining The American prior to the 2013-14 season. The Bulls have now won three AAC road games in four different seasons.

COMING ON STRONG
USF junior guard Xavier Castaneda scored a team-high 17 points and added five rebounds and four assists Tuesday against Memphis to continue a stretch of strong play. In fact, Castaneda has scored in double figures in three of the last four games and enters play Saturday at Wichita State averaging 11.8 points per game and 2.8 assists per game during that stretch. Prior to that, Castaneda averaged 7.5 points per game and had scored in double figures in only two other games.

PERFECTING HIS CRAFT
USF junior center Michael Durr made both of his free throw attempts on Feb. 24 against Temple and is now shooting 77.1 percent from the charity stripe. Durr has consistently improved his free throw percentage each year and his turned himself into one of the Bulls’ most reliable free throw shooters. Durr shot 53.6 percent from the stripe as a freshman, 63.3 percent as a junior and now ranks third on the team as a junior with his current percentage of 77.1 percent.

CLIMBING THE CHARTS
USF senior guard Justin Brown played in his 120th career game for the Bulls on Tuesday against Memphis. Brown enters play Saturday against Wichita State fourth all-time at USF in games. Should Brown play in every game remaining in the regular season and at least one conference tournament game, he will finish his career with 122 career games played and will rank third all-time at USF. Fellow senior David Collins has played in 113 career games and needs one more to move into the top 10.

THIRTY TWO IS TRUE
The USF men’s basketball team went 32 days in between games due to Covid-19 protocols within the program. The Bulls played their 12th game of the year Jan. 9 at East Carolina and turned in a 69-63 victory over the Pirates. It wouldn’t be until Feb. 10 that USF would resume games with a matchup against No. 7 Houston at the Yuengling Center. During the layoff, the Bulls had seven consecutive games postponed and only had two full practices that included all 13 players.

To stay up-to-date on the latest USF men’s’ basketball news, follow the Bulls on social media (Twitter | Facebook | Instagram).

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 over 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.

For tickets, contact the USF Ticket Office at 1-800-Go-Bulls or by going online to USFBullsTix.com.

– #GoBulls –