GoUSFBulls.com No. 20/21 Bulls Host East Carolina Saturday

[Brad]

USF ATHLETICS GoUSFBulls.com

 

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DATE: January 13, 2017

 

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No. 20/21 Bulls Host East Carolina Saturday

 

TAMPA, JAN. 13, 2017 – The University of South Florida women’s basketball team returns to USF Sun Dome Arena Saturday for an American Athletic Conference tilt against East Carolina. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m. and will air on the American Digital Network.

 

Saturday’s contest is the first of a three-game home stand, marking the first time this season USF will be in Florida for more than one week. The Bulls have proven to be tough to beat at home thanks to a 33-4 record over the past three seasons. USF currently holds an 11-game home win streak and is 6-0 at the Dome this season. The last time USF dropped a contest in front of its home crowd was Jan. 10, 2016.

 

Promotions

Bulls Against Cancer 

Saturday is the USF women’s basketball team Bulls Against Cancer game. In partnership with the Moffitt Cancer Center and USF Athletics, the Bulls will honor those whose lives have been touched by cancer. The goal of the partnership is to raise awareness for different types of cancer, while promoting cancer prevention. On Saturday, USF will raise awareness for cervical cancer. In awareness of the disease, the Bulls will wear uniforms with teal accents while staffs from both teams will wear teal ribbons. 

 

Father-Daughter Night

Fathers in attendance of Saturday’s game can come to Gate A and pick a flower to present to their daughter (while supplies last). Rocky will also be available from 6:30-7 p.m. to take photos with any fathers and daughters. 

 

The Opponent 

USF and the East Carolina will meet for the 12th time in program history. The Pirates hold a 7-4 series record but the Bulls have won three of the past four meetings. East Carolina holds a 4-2 advantage in Tampa. USF swept the series last year, including a 75-54 victory at the Sun Dome Jan. 17, 2016.

 

ECU (10-7, 1-3 The American) averages 64.7 points per game, and is led by Kristen Gaffney with 15.4 points and 6.2 rebounds per game. Bre McDonald is the only other Pirate averaging double-figures with 11.5 points per game. East Carolina is looking to bounce back after a 78-47 loss at Temple Wednesday. The Pirates are 1-2 in league action; their lone win is against SMU.

 

Notables

• Junior Laia Flores (Mataro, Spain) continues to rank among the nation’s best point guards. Her 3.45 assist-turnover ratio ranks fourth in the country.
• Junior Maria Jespersen (Arhus, Denmark) has tallied seven double-doubles this season, which rank second in the league and 35^th in NCAA Division I.
• Sophomore Kitija Laksa (Riga, Latvia) averages a league best 20.6 points per game which rank 14th in Division I. She is one of only five underclassmen on the top-15 scorers list, and one of only three sophomores.
• Head coach Jose Fernandez is only two wins away from reaching 300 career wins. Only two active coaches in the American Athletic Conference have achieved the feat.
• USF has a rebounding margin of +12.5, which ranks fifth in the country. The Bulls average 44.9 rebounds per game.
• The Bulls have only committed 191 fouls this season (12.7 per game), which ranks in the top-five as the fewest fouls committed this season.
• The Bulls’ 129 points versus Saint Francis U (Dec. 14) are the second-most points scored by any team in Division I this season. Baylor turned in 140 points the next day, Dec. 15, against Winthrop.
• USF is the only team in NCAA Division I with nine international players on its roster.

 

[Mama_Bull]

USF W. Basketball ‏@USFWBB  1m1 minute ago

FINAL | USF defeats ECU by a score of 79-48! Ariadna, Maria and Kitija all score 20+ points in the win! #United

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[206BULL]

Great win from the ladies tonight. Coach Fernandez should get win #300 against Memphis next week. 

[TakeItOrLeavitt]

Fun game. Hopefully we get another route Tuesday vs Memphis to set up the monster showdown with L'ville. Winning that game would be a nice way to get the taste of that UConn loss out of our mouths. Plus it would give the lady's a nice confidence boost for the rest of the season leading up to the rematch on Feb. 27th.

[Ionbull]

Thinking about going to the game on Tuesday but nobody wants to go with me. I'm still down going solo to see win #300!

[Mike Stuben]

A little perspective on Coach Fernandez's 300th win (hopefully on Tuesday). 

The second winningest coach in program history is Trudi Lacy with 88 wins. 

[bullsfan27]

It was a nice response after the uconn beat down. Now if we can find a way to get to the rematch with only losing 3 or less games we will be in good shape

[charsibb]

2 hours ago, bullsfan27 said:

It was a nice response after the uconn beat down. Now if we can find a way to get to the rematch with only losing 3 or less games we will be in good shape

Agree.

RPI bumped up 8 points to #20 after demolishing the Pirates, now matches our human ranking

http://realtimerpi.com/rpi_aac_Women.html

 

[Ionbull]

9 hours ago, charsibb said:

Agree.

RPI bumped up 8 points to #20 after demolishing the Pirates, now matches our human ranking

http://realtimerpi.com/rpi_aac_Women.html

 

It's almost as if RPI and the voters don't hold any game played against UConn against you lol

Take care of business on Tuesday and then welcome a big game against Lville.

[charsibb]

1 hour ago, Ionbull said:

It's almost as if RPI and the voters don't hold any game played against UConn against you lol

Take care of business on Tuesday and then welcome a big game against Lville.

It doesn't, really. Lose less than expected and you still rise.

We only have five more shots at quality wins this year

Temple x2, and at home for Louisville, Tulane and then UConn at home to end the season.

We'll be favored in all our remaining games except Temple away (maybe) and UConn (definitely)

UCF, Memphis, Houston and Tulsa will drag our RPI don even if we blow them out.

We hold serve, win ALL the ones we're supposed to, and take one of @Temple or UConn, we'll finish the season in the top 10, with maybe a 3 seed.