Tulsa
USF
Tulsa to Face USF on Saturday
2/14/2020 10:10:00 AM | Men's Basketball
| GAME #25: TULSA GOLDEN HURRICANE (16-8) vs. USF Bulls (11-13) | |
|---|---|
| Date/Time: | Saturday • Feb. 15, 2020 • 11:00 a.m. (CT) |
| Site: | Yuengling Center (10,411) • Tampa, Fla. |
| Coaches: | Tulsa – Frank Haith (Elon '88), 6th year USF – Brian Gregory (Oakland '90), 3rd year |
| TV: | ESPNU | Dave LaMont (pxp) and Mark Adams (analyst) |
| Radio: | Big Country 99.5 FM (Bruce Howard & J.R. Rollo) |
| Live Stats: | Live Stats |
| Series: | 9th Meeting (Tulsa leads series at 8-0) |
| Twitter: | @TUMBasketball | @TulsaHurricane |
| Instagram: | TulsaMBasketball |
| Game Notes: | Tulsa (PDF) |
THE GAME
• This is the 9th meeting between Tulsa and USF which all have come as American Athletic Conference members.
• USF is 11-13 on the season ... the Bulls come into Saturday's match-up off of a 62-58 loss to Houston ... prior to that loss USF was on a 3-game winning streak defeating Tulane, UCF and Memphis.
• This will be the only regular season matchup between the Golden Hurricane and the Bulls this season.
• USF enters the game 4-7 in the American Athletic Conference, while Tulsa is 8-3 in conference play.
THE SERIES
• The Hurricane is undefeated against USF, holding an 8-0 series advantage ... the Hurricane is 5-0 at home against the Bulls and 3-0 on the road.
• Tulsa's last meeting against USF came on Jan. 5, 2019 as the Hurricane won 78-75 at home.
• The last meeting on the road in Tampa between the two teams came on Feb. 18, 2018 as the Hurricane won, 73-61.
• The first game between the two teams came in the 2015-16 season as Tulsa defeated USF on the road with a final of 75-58 in a conference contest.
LAST MEETING AGAINST USF
• The Hurricane took on the USF Bulls at the Reynolds Center on Jan. 5, 2019 as Tulsa won 78-75 for its first conference win in just its second AAC game of 2019 ... the win extended Tulsa's home winning streak to 15 games.
• With 4.4 seconds left, Sterling Taplin inbounded the ball to Martins Igbanu, who gave it right back as the guard recorded his third assist of the night, finding an open Curran Scott whose shot hit nothing but net as the buzzer sounded for the 78-75 win.
• DaQuan Jeffries led the way with 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting ... it was the fourth game with at least 20 points in the season for Jeffries ... Igbanu and Taplin each added 15 points.
• The Hurricane shot 45.5-percent from the field for the game after connecting at a 50-percent clip in the second half, including a 5-of-7 effort behind the arc in the final 20 minutes.
• Laquincy Rideau paced the Bulls with 19 points ... David Collins added 16 points and hit a game-tying triple with 4.4 seconds remaining before Scott's heroics.
SCOUTING THE BULLS
• USF was picked to finish 5th in the American Athletic Conference ... the Bulls finished last season with a record of 23-13, 8-10 in conference play.
• The Bulls are 4-7 in conference this season defeating UConn, Tulane, UCF and taking down Memphis on the road, 75-73.
• USF is 8-5 at home this season ... they have wins against Drexel, FAU and Furman in the Yuengling Center.
• The Bulls' Laquincy Rideau ranks 2nd in the AAC in steals 2.4 a game ... he is also 5th in the conference in assists (3.9) and 15th in scoring with 12.8 points.
• Along with Rideau, David Collins averages double-figures for USF with 14.0 ppg. ... Rideau was named to the American Athletic Conference Preseason All-Conference team ... Collins and Alexis Yetna were selected to the Preseason All-Conference second team ... Yetna is sitting out this season due to injury.
HURRICANE KEEPS EARNING WEEKLY AWARDS
• This week Martins Igbanu (Feb. 10) was named to the AAC weekly honor roll after averaging 29.5 points, 4 rebounds and one assists at home against UConn and UCF on the road.
• Before that, Tulsa had 3 consecutive American Athletic Conference Players of the Week from Jan. 20 to Feb. 3.
• The latest was Elijah Joiner (Feb. 3) after a 22-point, 5-rebound, 5-assist and buzzer-beating game-winning 3-pointer vs. #23 Wichita State.
• The week before (Jan. 27), Martins Igbanu averaged 19.5 points and 8.0 boards in wins over #20 Memphis and UConn.
• On Jan, 20, Brandon Rachal earned his second weekly honor with 18.5 points and 7.0 rebounds in road wins at ECU and Tulane.
A TULSA WIN WOULD
• Give Tulsa their 9th victory against USF ... extending the 8-game winning streak against the Bulls to 9.
• Give Tulsa their third win in the month of February and improve Tulsa's record in 2020 to 9-3.
• Give the Hurricane their 17th win of the season, and a 9-3 record in conference play.
• Improve Tulsa's record on the road to 5-5 ... their 4th road win in the American Athletic Conference.
IGBANU STRONG CANDIDATE FOR SIXTH MAN OF THE YEAR
• Martins Igbanu has caught fire and is a strong candidate for the AAC's Sixth Man of the Year Award ... he has come off the bench in all 11 AAC games and has averaged 17.1 points and 5.9 rebounds, while shooting .630 (63-of-100) from the field and .735 (61-of-83) from the free throw line.
• In the last 5 games, Igbanu has averaged 24.2 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.4 assists .
• Igbanu has scored in double-figures in the last 7 contests, and 8 of Tulsa's 11 AAC games, and has 3 double-digit rebounding games in the last 8 contests ... he has recorded 2 double-doubles within the last 5 games – UConn (1/26) and ECU (2/12).
• He has had 4 20+ point games, breaking his career-high in scoring with 30 points in a 83-75 loss against UCF on Feb. 9 ... his previous career-high was 29 points which he scored in a 72-56 loss against UConn on Feb. 6 ... he also scored 28 at UConn and 24 at home against ECU.
• He was named the American Athletic Conference Player of the Week on Jan. 27 ... this week (Feb. 10) he was named to the AAC weekly honor roll after averaging 29.5 points, 4 rebounds and one assist.
DEFENSE WINS FOR TULSA
• In Tulsa's 16 wins this season, the Hurricane has held each opponent to under 40.3-percent shooting from the field and below 33-percent from 3-point range.
• 15 of those 16 opponents have shot under 40-percent, while only one, SE Louisiana, was over 40-percent at 40.3.
• 11 of the 16 foes have shot under 30-percent from 3-point range.
• Tulsa has held 14 of the opponents in its 16 wins under 70 points, and 5 of them under 50 points – Memphis (40), East Carolina (49), Temple (44), South Carolina State (47), and Arkansas-Pine Bluff (39).
• Throughout the season only 6 teams have surpassed 70 points ... Houston Baptist (72), UT Arlington (80), Arkansas (98), Colorado State (111), Cincinnati (75) and UConn (75).
• Overall, Tulsa opponents are shooting 39.7-percent from the field and 29.4-percent from the 3-point line.
• The Tulsa defense forced opponents to turn the ball over 351 times for a 14.6 average per game ... of those turnovers, Tulsa has accounted for 188 steals (7.8 pg).
• Three teams came into the game averaging 80+ points that Tulsa held under 80 points ... Boise State (81.0 ppg) was held to 56 points ... Vanderbilt (85.2 ppg) scored only 58 points ... Austin Peay (92.5) was held to 65 points ... Tulsa held the 3 teams to a combined 26.5 points below their season averages.
BUCKETS IN THE LANE
• Tulsa has scored 48.1 percent of its points in the paint through 24 games ... the Hurricane has scored 808 of its 1,680 total points in the paint area.
• The Hurricane has a 11.2 scoring margin in the paint over its opponents, 33.7 per game (808) for Tulsa to 22.5 for the opposition (540).
• Tulsa has 6 games with 40+ paint points – UConn (42), Houston Baptist (48), SE Louisiana (42), Arkansas (42), Colorado State (48) and UCF (40) ... while only 4 opponents have 30 or more paint points against the Hurricane, including UConn (32), Cincinnati (36), Arkansas (30) and Colorado State (46).
• Tulsa has had 16 games with a double-digit margin of points in the paint, including the widest margin of 28 points in the season opener against Houston Baptist (48-to-20), followed by 26 points at UCF (40-to-14).
UP NEXT
• Tulsa finishes their 2-game road trip at Houston on Wednesday, Feb. 19 at 8:00 p.m. ... the Hurricane is back in the Reynolds Center for Legends Day on Saturday, Feb. 22 to face off with SMU with a 2 p.m. tipoff.
