USF Bulls vs. Rutgers Game Notes and TV

[Brad]

USF ATHLETICS GoUSFBulls.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DATE: Feb. 28, 2014

Web Release: http://www.gousfbulls.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=7700&ATCLID=209420872

Date: Saturday, March 1, 2014

Time: Noon ET

Location: Piscataway, N.J./The RAC (8,000)

TV: ESPNews (Mike Crispino, Mo Cassara)

Radio: 98.7 FM The Fan, Sirius: 108, XM: 190 (Jim Lighthall) | BullsCast

Game Notes: USF | Rutgers

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USF Plays at Rutgers Saturday at Noon

Still much to be decided in the conference standings

TAMPA, FEB. 28, 2014 – With three regular season games remaining, the USF men’s basketball team is still in the running for sixth place in the conference when it plays at Rutgers Saturday at noon ET.

It is a four-team race to secure the sixth seed and first round bye to the American Athletic Conference Championships, held March 12-15 in Memphis, Tenn. USF (3-12) and UCF (3-12) are two games out with upcoming Bulls opponents Houston (6-9) and Rutgers (4-11) ahead of them. The Cougars really helped their chances with a 77-68 win over Memphis on Thursday. USF would have to win its remaining three games and hope Houston loses its three games to earn a tie. As the standings are now, USF would win the tiebreaker due to its best conference win (SMU), currently seeded higher than Houston’s best conference win (UConn).

The Bulls are 12-16 overall and are coming off a hard-fought 61-56 loss to UConn on Wednesday. Victor Rudd led the Bulls in scoring with 14 points and is now 26 points away from 13th on USF’s all-time scoring list. The senior from Los Angeles has been playing well down the stretch averaging 20.6 points and 9.0 rebounds over the past three games.

Freshman Josh Heath (Tampa) is coming off his best game of his young career with a personal best seven points, including a late three-pointer, three assists and zero turnovers.

SCOUTING RUTGERS

The Scarlet Knights (10-18, 4-11 American) are coming off a 67-65 loss at UCF on Wednesday, their fourth consecutive loss. Myles Mack leads the team with 15.5 points and 4.3 assists per game. Kadeem Jack leads Rutgers with 7.0 rebounds per game and had the best game of his career in the first meeting with the Bulls in Tampa with 31 points.

SERIES

Rutgers leads the all-time series 8-5 including a 5-1 advantage in Piscataway, N.J. USF’s last win at Rutgers was exactly six years ago on March 1, 2008 by the score of 54-52. The Scarlet Knights won the first meeting 79-69 on Feb. 8 in the Sun Dome.

NOTES

» USF outrebounded UConn 39-29

» Martino Brock is 30-of-53, 56.6% from the field over his last five games

» Chris Perry’s free throws: First 15 games... 23-of-53, 43%. Last nine games... 31-of-43, 72.1%

» Victor Rudd and Corey Allen Jr. are the only two players to start in every game this season for the Bulls

» In every game Victor Rudd has recorded at least 10 rebounds (6), he’s had at least 10 points for a double-double

» Josh Heath has 40 assists and 21 turnovers for a 1.9 assist/turnover ratio, the 8th best in The American in conference-only games

» Musa Abdul-Aleem is 16-of-67 (23.9 percent) from three-point range, but 9-of-18 from two

» John Egbunu has recorded at least one blocked shot in all but seven games this season

» John Egbunu’s 34 blocks on the season is the third most ever at USF among freshmen, first is 50

» John Egbunu’s 177 rebounds is the second most ever at USF among freshmen, first is 197

» 46 of John Egbunu’s 76 field goals have been dunks

» Only one team in the nation (Lamar) has attempted fewer three-pointers per game than USF (12.0)

» 61.5 percent of USF’s scoring has come via two-pointers, the 3rd most in the NCAA according to KenPom

» 39.8 percent of USF’s scoring has come from three newcomers: Corey Allen Jr., John Egbunu and Chris Perry

» 23.5 percent of USF’s scoring has come from Victor Rudd

» USF is 5-2 in games decided by three points or less

» USF is 0-10 when shooting under 40 percent from the field

» USF is 7-3 when leading at halftime, but 2-13 when trailing at the break

» USF is 8-0 when committing fewer turnovers than its opponent

» Victor Rudd is one of three players (TaShawn Thomas/UH, Isaiah Sykes/UCF) in the American Conference to rank in the top 10 in scoring and rebounding. 9th in scoring (15.3), 8th in rebounding (6.8). He leads the American in defensive rebounds per game at 6.1

» John Egbunu ranks 11th in the conference in rebounding (6.3), the most of any freshman, 12th in blocked shots (1.2), 8th in offensive rebounding (2.6)

» Chris Perry ranks 16th in the conference in rebounding (5.5) and leads all freshmen in the conference in scoring with 9.2 points per game

LAST TIME OUT

USF had a nine-point lead with less than 13 minutes to go but couldn’t shut the door on UConn in a 61-56 loss before a crowd of 5,115 at the Sun Dome on Wednesday night. Shabazz Napier scored 13 of his game-high 17 points in the final 11 minutes and made a number of clutch plays in crunch time to help the Huskies improve to 22-6 (10-5) and complete the season series sweep of the Bulls.

PAINTING

When USF scored 54 points in the paint at UCF, it was the most since recording 54 on Feb. 27, 2010 in a 99-93 win by the Bulls. When USF defeated SMU 78-71 on Jan. 28, it was the first time the Mustang’s had been outscored in the paint all season (38-28). The Bulls have outscored their opponents down low 932-809 on the season.

USF RUNS ON DUNKIN

Through 28 games, the Bulls have recorded 112 dunks, an average of 4.0 per game. Freshman John Egbunu has led the rim-rattling with 46 dunks (page 7). The only game in which USF did not recorded a dunk was on Jan. 4 against Houston. By comparison, FGCU “Dunk City” threw down 148 dunks last season in 37 games, an average of 4.0 per game.

UP NEXT

USF has a quick turnaround with an 8:30 p.m. ET game at Houston on Tuesday. The game will be televised on ESPNews.

- #GoBulls -

[charsibb]

Need to send them off to the B10 with an utterly crushing defeat.

 

Go Bulls!

Ruck Futgers!!!

[DELdaBull]

We won't finish 6th that is for certain. We can beat Rutgers though.

[DELdaBull]

When do we ever come out well