GoUSFBulls.com Bulls Head West to Play SMU

[Brad]

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Bulls Head West to Play SMU

USF will be led by Murry Bartow in his first game as interim head coach

Matchup: USF (6-7,0-2 The American) at SMU (13-3, 3-0)
Date: Saturday, Jan. 7
Time: 5 p.m. ET
Location: Dallas, Texas | Moody Coliseum (7,000)
Watch: ESPNEWS (Allen Bestwick, Tim Welsh)
Radio: 820 AM (Jim Lighthall, Todd Kalas)
Follow: Listen | Stats | Watch

TAMPA, JAN. 6, 2017 – The University of South Florida men’s basketball team begins the 2017 portion of its schedule with a Saturday afternooncontest at SMU.

The Bulls have not played a game since Dec. 31, when Houston visited the Sun Dome. Sophomore guard Troy Holston (Queens, N.Y.) tallied a team-high 16 points off the bench. Freshman forward Malik Fitts also posted a career-high tying 12 points.

In his first game at the helm, USF will be led by interim head coach Murry Bartow. Coach Bartow brings 30 years of coaching experience to the Bulls, including 18 as head coach at UAB (1996-02) and East Tennessee State (2003-15). Learn more about Bartow HERE.

The Opponent

SMU is the hottest team in The American, having won its last nine consecutive contests. Earlier this week, the Mustangs defeated Temple, 79-65, on Wednesday. Three players totaled double figure points in the win.

Offensively, SMU is averaging 72 points per game, including four players who are netting 10 points per game each (Semi Ojeleye, Shake Milton, Ben Moore, Sterling Brown). Comparatively, the Mustangs are yielding only 58 points per game. SMU is a perfect 10-0 at home this year.

USF is behind, 7-3, in the all-time series with SMU. The Mustangs hold a 4-1 edge in Dallas and the Bulls will look to end SMU’s four-game winning streak in the series.

Notables

• Redshirt freshman forward Tulio Da Silva(Brazil) has grabbed the fourth-most rebounds in The American (8.1).
• Junior guard Geno Thorpe (Pittsburgh) is second in the conference in free throw percentage (.845). Junior forward Bo Zeigler (Detroit) is also second in field goal percentage in The American (.607).
• Junior center Ruben Guerrero (Spain) has 102 blocks at USF, tied with Augustus Gilchrist (2008-12) for seventh most in program history.
• The Bulls have outrebounded their opponent in five of the last six contests.
• USF has outscored the opponent by 103 points in the paint this year.
• USF’s 21 offensive rebounds against ECU were the most for the program since snatching 22 against George Washington (Nov. 19, 2015).
• This season, the Bulls are one of four NCAA Division I teams with no seniors on its roster. The other three are Bradley, Penn State and UT-Rio Grande Valley.
• The next USF Basketball Radio Show will be on Monday, Jan. 9 from World of Beer on Fowler Ave. Join interim head coach Murry Bartow and the voice of the Bulls, Jim Lighthall, for the one-hour show starting at 7 p.m. Listen live on 820 AM or online at GoUSFBulls.com.

[BullsBy100]

Rest in peace.

[TheUpperHand]

Edited January 7, 2017 by TheUpperHand

[Brad]

Just watching the start of the Murry Bartow USfF era. 

[Brad]

Put transition defense on the to do list. 

[bcgruber]

Saw a little improvement on the offensive end, still think we are lucky to win 2-3 games just lacking talent with JMM gone