USF Men's Basketball Preview: at No. 23/22 Oklahoma State

[Brad]

USF MEN’S BASKETBALL

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DATE: Dec. 3, 2012

GAME DAY INFORMATION

Date: December 5, 2012

Location: Stillwater, Okla.

Tip-off: 9:00 p.m. Eastern

TV: ESPNU - Mitch Holthus and Matt Doherty

Radio: 98.7 The Fan- Jim Lighthall and Todd Kalas

Arena: Gallagher-Iba Arena

The Game

The University of South Florida men’s basketball team takes its second road trip of the season as it heads to Stillwater, Oklahoma to face the No. 23/22 Cowboys (5-1) at 9 p.m. (ET) in Gallagher-Iba Arena. The Bulls (5-2) are coming off of a 64-53 win over Georgia in the SEC/BIG EAST Challenge (Nov. 30) while the Cowboys fell at Virginia Tech, 81-71. This is the first meeting between the two programs. USF is 7-13 against current Big 12 schools.

THE BROADCAST

The USF vs. Oklahoma State game will air nationally on ESPNU with Mitch Holthus (play-by-play) and Matt Doherty (analyst) calling the action. Additionally, the game will air on 98.7 The Fan with Jim Lighthall (play-by-play) and Todd Kalas (analyst) on the call.

The Coach

Head coach Stan Heath is in his 26th season of coaching, 12th as a head coach and sixth at USF. He has posted a 190-170 overall record and is 78-93 at USF. Heath has made four NCAA appearances (2002-Kent State, 2006 and 2007- Arkansas, 2012 - USF) and one NIT appearance in his 11-year career.

A Special Season

The Bulls are coming off a special 2011-12 season that saw the team make the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1991-92 and pick up their first NCAA wins as they advanced to the Third Round after recording wins over California (First Round) and Temple (Second Round). USF tied the school record in wins with a 22-14 record and posted its best-ever finish in BIG EAST play with a 12-6 record for sixth place which secured a first round bye in the conference championship for the first time. Head coach Stan Heath also earned his first BIG EAST Coach of the Year award and the Bulls advanced to the BIG EAST quarterfinals for the first time in program history.

USF VS. Georgia NOTES

Team

-USF outrebounded its third-straight opponent with a 28-27 advantage over Georgia

-USF tied its season low with eight turnovers ... the Bulls have posted eight turnovers in three of their last four games.

-USF shot 52.2 percent from the field in the second half ... it’s sixth half this season shooting at least 50 percent from the field

--USF used its seventh different starting lineup of the season with Anthony Collins, Shaun Noriega, Kore White, Victor Rudd and Toarlyn Fitzpatrick

Individual

- Anthony Collins posted his third-straight 10+ assist outing becoming the third Bull since 2002-03 to record three 10+ assist outings in a season

- Toarlyn Fitzpatrick recorded his fourth-straight double-digit scoring effort and fifth of the season with 13 points (5-of-7 FG, 3-of-4 3FG) in 36 minutes.

-Victor Rudd led the team in rebounding for the third-straight game

- Rudd also posted his third double-digit scoring effort of the season with 12 points.

- Shaun Noriega registered 15 points on 5-of-11 FG, 2-of-5 3FG and 3-of-4 FT shooting from the field ... his fourth double digit scoring game of the season

From Coach Heath - Dec. 3

This should be the stiffest challenge we’ve had all year. It will be a great experience and if our guys handle this environment, they’ll be able to handle any environment they face down the road. We’re playing better. I was very pleased how we played against Georgia. I thought our guys did things as a team very well – defended, shared the ball. We had good balance on the offensive end and we were solid on the glass. Anthony Collins did a nice job. I thought down the stretch we were kind of back to where we used to be – a little tough, a little resilient – and found a way to win. This is a resume builder for us.

[The Sheriff]

Must win game for the tourney resume.

[USFbulls0208]

One of the things that had me nervous at Tourney time last year was our lack of a big OOC win. This is our chance

[inTransit]

Ok St gets a ton of production from it's backcourt. They are 6'7" and 6'4". Marcus Smart was the best HS player to come out of TX last year and has some impressive numbers in his freshman year. This will be a tough place to play but we can win. Keep the game at our pace and win the battles up front.

[Hem]

Huge Game! Go BULLS!

[outrunner]

This game will come down to which time can control the tempo. OKST likes a faster pace of play, averaging 72 points a game. OKST also has four players averaging double digit points, three of them over 14 ppg. USF will try to slow the game down and make every possession count. We are only allowing 58.7 points per game. Plus, slowing the game down and hitting our shots will help us control the crowd as well.

Sadly, i don't think our defense is there quite yet to shut them down tomorrow night. But we should be able to make it interesting.

[Paisa el Toro]

This game will come down to which time can control the tempo. OKST likes a faster pace of play, averaging 72 points a game. OKST also has four players averaging double digit points, three of them over 14 ppg. USF will try to slow the game down and make every possession count. We are only allowing 58.7 points per game. Plus, slowing the game down and hitting our shots will help us control the crowd as well.

Sadly, i don't think our defense is there quite yet to shut them down tomorrow night. But we should be able to make it interesting.

And, we have to crash the boards and box out UPS delivermen on crank! I'm hoping Vic Rudd steps his game up for this challenge.

[Ghost]

ugh this game is gonna make me sick. We need to slow this game down to a crawl.

[Breedwell]

Hey, look at how we played Syracuse and Louisville late last season. We slowed them down a lot and grinded out the win.

Judging the score of the Georgia game, we did a much better job enforcing our tempo.

As long as the boys remember to take their time and develop clean looks, we should do okay. I'd argue that it becomes tough to maintain a high tempo if one team uses most of their shot clock.

[outrunner]

Hey, look at how we played Syracuse and Louisville late last season. We slowed them down a lot and grinded out the win.

Judging the score of the Georgia game, we did a much better job enforcing our tempo.

As long as the boys remember to take their time and develop clean looks, we should do okay. I'd argue that it becomes tough to maintain a high tempo if one team uses most of their shot clock.

Georgia likes to slow the game down also, so it wasn't surprising the game was that low scoring.

But I agree, we need to work hard on offense to get the clock down to under 10 seconds every possession. My only concern is Brock and Rudd. They both tend to want to shoot rather than pass, especially Brock who is a shoot first PG.