Game Information
Date: Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Tipoff: 7 p.m.
Location: Providence, RI
Arena: Alumni Hall
Capacity: 2,620
Series: USF leads 2-1
at USF: Series tied 1-1
at Providence: USF leads 1-0
Neutral site: 0-0
Radio: 1010 WQYK-AM
Internet: GoUSFBulls.com (BullsVision)
Play-by-Play: Garrett Walvoord
Tickets: Call the Providence ticket office at 401-865-GOPC
Game Notes | USF | Providence | Updated BIG EAST Weekly Release
The University of South Florida women's basketball team looks to get a split in the second game of a two game road trip when it travels to the “Ocean State” to battle Providence on Tuesday night ... Game time at Alumni Hall is set for 7 p.m. ... Fans can hear the game live on 1010 AM CBS Sports Radio with Garrett Walvoord calling all the action ... In addition, fans can follow all the action via the world wide web by logging onto GoUSFBulls.com and selecting the BullsVision Premium option for live audio streaming ... USF in the midst of the first of two, two-game road trips that it will take this season ... In addition to the Pittsburgh-Providence swing, the Bulls will also have an extended road trip when they head to West Virginia on Feb. 21 (7 p.m.) and DePaul on Feb. 24 (8 p.m. EST) ... USF will look to get back on the winning track - and to it's early season offensive form against the Friars ... The Bulls have dropped four of their last five games and are averaging 57.5 points per outing during that stretch, a far cry from their 82.8 points per outing they are netting during the season ... Despite its recent struggles, USF comes into Tuesday's game with Providence with a 14-5 record (1-4 BIG EAST) which is tied for the third best 19-game start in the program's history ... Should the Bulls win against the Friars, and improve to 15-5, it would equal their best 20-game start in program history joining the 2006-07 team that also started the year with the same record ... A 14-6 start joins the 2004-05 team with the second best 20-game beginning ... USF is coming off a 79-47 loss at Pittsburgh on Saturday ... Porche Grant was the Bulls' lone double figure scorer netting 11 points in addition to 11 rebounds ... It was Grant's first double-double of the season and the third of her career ... In addition, it was USF's fourth double-double of the campaign ... On the year, the Bulls place three players in double-digits led by Shantia Grace's 15.4 points per contest ... Jazmine Sepulveda and Janae Stokes are averaging 12.6 and 12.2 points per game respectively ... Grant continues to get better on the boards as the year goes on ... She leads the team on the glass grabbing 8.1 rebounds per game while Brittany Denson is pulling down 6.8 rebounds per outing.
Scouting Providence
Providence comes into Tuesday's game with a 7-10 record and a 1-3 ledger in BIG EAST play ... The Friars have lost six of their last seven games with the only win coming over No. 19/20 Pittsburgh, 77-69, on Jan. 7 in Providence.
Chelese Marandola leads the Friars in scoring on the year netting 10.9 points per game ... She is also third on the team in rebounding grabbing 5.5 per outing ... Emily Cornoyere is second on the team in scoring averaging 10.7 points per contest while Mi-Khida Hankins round out the double-figure scorers averaging 10.6 points per game.
The Series vs. The Friars
Tuesday's game with Providence will be the fourth meeting all-time between the two schools - and the second at Providence - with USF holding a 2-1 series lead ... The Bulls defeated the Friars 53-47 in Tampa on Jan. 21, 2006 in the first-ever meeting and then handed Providence a 78-64 loss on Feb. 13, 2007 at Alumni Hall ... The Friars handed USF its first loss in the short series with a 61-49 setback on Jan. 15 at the Sun Dome.
Last Year vs. Providence
Providence handed the Bulls a 61-49 loss to Providence on Jan. 15, 2008 in Tampa ... It was USF's fifth straight
loss marking the longest losing streak for the Bulls since the 2002-03 season ... The loss was also the first for the Bulls' in the all-time series with Providence.
The Bulls outscored the Friars 34-13 off the bench, 24-22 in the paint and 11-6 in second chance points, however only shot 28.8 percent (17-59) from the field on the night en route to the loss ... In addition, USF only hit 28.6 percent (4-14) from behind the three-point arc and 61.1 percent (11-18) from the free throw line.
The Bulls recorded 20 turnovers for the seventh time of the season - up to that point - after committing better than
20 miscues just once during the 2006-07 season.
Jessica Lawson scored in double figures for the first time since netting 14 points vs. Yale on Dec. 30 - a stretch of five games ... She had a team-high 11 points against Providence ... Jazmine Sepulveda also added 10 points in the loss.
Last Time Out For The Bulls
USF is coming off a 79-47 loss at Pittsburgh on Saturday ... It was the Bulls' fourth loss their last five games.
USF scored just 19 points in the first half, its fewest scored in the first stanza this year and second fewest in a half this season ... In addition, the Bulls' 47 points is the second fewest scored this season behind the 37 scored against Connecticut on Jan. 6.
USF shot 26.2 percent (17-65) from the field in the loss and a dismal 10.5 percent (2-10) from behind the three-point arc.
Porche Grant - the Bulls' lone double-figure scorer against the Panthers - recorded her first double-double of the year with an 11-point, 11-rebound effort ... It was her first double-double of the year and the third of her career.
USF Still One Of The Nation's Top Offenses
Despite the Bulls' offensive woes during the month of January, they are still among the nations leaders in scoring offense ... USF comes into Tuesday's game with Providence as the nation's third ranked team in the country in scoring netting 82.8 points per game on the year ... They find themselves behind UConn (88.6 ppg) and North Carolina (87.9 ppg) ... UConn and UNC both meet on Jan. 19 in Chapel Hill.
Top Offensive Team's In NCAA Division I
1. 88.6 Connecticut (played at North Carolina, Jan. 19; next game, Jan. 24 at Cincinnati)
2. 87.9 North Carolina (played North Carolina, Jan. 19; next game, Jan. 22 at Georgia Tech)
3. 82.8 USF (next game, Jan. 24 vs. Georgetown)
4. 82.0 Oklahoma (next game, Jan. 21 at Colorado)
5. 80.3 Auburn (next game, Jan. 22 at Alabama)
USF has scored 100 or more points in five games this season, 90 or more in nine outings and 80 or more in 13 of 19 games this year while holding its opposition to less then 60 points eight times and fewer that 50 points six times.
Sharing The Wealth
Coming into the Providence game, the Bulls have had five players record at least one game this year with 20 or more points ... In addition, three players have logged at least three outings with no fewer than 20 points.
USF Players With 20-Point Games In 2008-09
Shantia Grace
44 Coppin State, Nov. 23
27 vs. Iowa, Nov. 28
24 at Tulane, Dec. 30
Jazmine Sepulveda
26 Jackson State, Dec. 28
24 Florida International, Dec. 5
24 Stetson, Nov. 18
Janae Stokes
39 Grambling, Dec. 18
20 Jackson State, Dec. 28
20 Central Connecticut, Nov. 15
Alexis Givands
20 Central Connecticut, Nov. 15
Jasmine Wynne
20 Florida International, Dec. 5
Treymendous
The Bulls set a new school record for three-point shots made in a game with 15 against Jackson State on Dec. 28 ... USF passed the old mark of 14, originally set vs. Jacksonville on Dec. 30, 2001, and then tied the record this season against Grambling on Dec. 18 ... The Bulls have hit double-digit three point shots five times this season.
Jose Fernandez Becomes USF's Basketball's Career Leader In Wins
USF head coach Jose Fernandez is already the all-time winningest coach in the program's history, now he has made his mark as the all-time winningest coach in USF basketball history ... On Dec. 28, with the Bulls' win over Jackson State, Fernandez surpassed former men's coach Bobby Paschal with 128 career wins ... Paschal logged 127 wins in 10 seasons (286 games) ... Fernandez is currently 130-128 in his ninth season.
USF is now one of six Big East schools where the winningest basketball coach is a women's basketball coach ... It joins Connecticut (Geno Auriemma), Notre Dame (Muffet McGraw), Rutgers (Theresa Grentz), Seton Hall (Phyllis Mangina) and Villanova (Harry Perretta).
Three other Big East women's basketball programs do not have a coach with 200 career wins -- Louisville (Bud Childers, 153), Pittsburgh (Kirk Bruce, 158) and St. John's (Joe Mullaney Jr., 168).
Putting Up a 30-Spot
Fortunately this is on the forcing end and not the committing end, but coming into the Providence game, USF has forced it's opponents into 30 or more turnovers in seven of it's 19 games this year.
In their two games of the USF Shootout, the Bulls forced Central Connecticut and Loyola into 33 and 35 turnovers respectively after not accomplishing back-to-back miscues during the 2007-08 season ... In addition, Coppin State had 31 turnovers on Nov. 2.
USF forced North Florida into 39 miscues on Dec. 14 ... That came just one-game after the Bulls forced FIU into 34 turnovers on Dec. 5.
Most recently, on Dec, 20, Northern Arizona handed the ball over 35 times - which equals the second most this season - and Southern had 31 turnovers on Dec. 21.
Prior to this season, the last time an opponent of USF recorded 30 or more turnovers was on Nov. 18, 2006 when Texas Southern handed the ball over 39 times in an 89-37 loss to the Bulls ... In that game USF scored 50 of it's 89 points off turnovers.
The last time that the Bulls recorded better than 30 turnovers twice in a season was during the 2003-04 campaign when Wagner had 32 in the season opener on Nov. 21 and Florida Atlantic had 35 on Dec. 30, 2003 ... USF has never had three opponents turn the ball over 30 or more times in one season.
Coming into Tuesday's game with the Friars, the Bulls have forced its opponents into 26 or more miscues in 11 of their 19 games ... The only eight to not have 26 or more is then No. 3/4 California (13) on Nov. 27, Grambling (21) on Dec. 18, Tulane on Dec. 30 (16), Marquette on Jan. 3 (13), Connecticut on Jan. 6 (20), St. John's (20), Louisville (14) and Pittsburgh (18).
Give Me That
In addition to the seven 30 turnover games this season by USF opponents, the Bulls also recorded four games with 20 or more steals ... The Bulls had 23 against Central Connecticut, 20 against the Loyola (MD), 23 against Coppin State and 20 against North Florida ... Last season the Bulls didn't log more that 17 steals in any one game, and only had double-digit steals in eight games.
Prior to this year, the last time the Bulls had 20 steals in a game was against Texas Southern on Nov. 18, 2006 when they had exactly 20.
Double Dipping'
Melissa Dalembert recorded the Bulls' first double-double of the season, against Loyola (MD) on Nov. 16, in the championship game of the USF Shootout with a 13-point, 12-rebound performance ... In addition, it was Dalembert's second career double-double following her 19-point, 12-rebound effort against New Hampshire on Nov. 17, 2007.
It took 11 games before another member of the Bulls recorded a double-double ... Jessica Lawson made the list with a 10-point, 16-rebound effort vs. Jackson State on Dec. 28.
Lawson logged the Bulls' third double-double of the season with a 14-point, 16-rebound effort against Louisville on Jan. 14 ... It was her sixth double-double at USF and the seventh of her collegiate career ... Her 16 rebounds marks a career-high.
Porche Grant turned in USF's fourth double-double of the season with an 11-point, 11-rebound effort against Pittsburgh ... It was her first of the season and the third of her career.
Although USF has obviously had numerous double-doubles in it's programs history, it has only had one triple-double in it's 37 years of competition ... Monica Encheverria accomplished the feat on Dec. 3, 1999 against Cal Poly San Luis Obispo when she recorded 13 points, 21 rebounds and 10 assists ... In addition to Encheverria, the USF men's program has had two triple-doubles in its history with McHugh Mattis doing it at Winston Salem State on Dec. 7, 2006 (22 points, 10 rebounds, 10 blocked shots) and Adrian Hillman recording the first-ever in school history against Florida Atlantic on Dec. 4, 1996 (13 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists).
Bulls Have Streaks Snapped In Back-to-Back Games
USF had it's nine-game winning streak snapped, which was tied for the second longest in school history, with its 68-60 loss to Marquette on Jan. 3 in Milwaukee ... The Bulls also won nine consecutive during the 1972-73 campaign ... The program's record for consecutive wins is 10, winning the last two games of the 1975-76 season and the first eight of the 1976-77 campaign.
USF's all-time longest winning streaks
10 - Last two of 1975-76 and the first eight of 1976-77
9 - 2008-09, 1972-73
8 - 2007-08
7 - 2006-07, 2000-01
Like in the previous outing against Marquette, the Bulls had a long winning streak snapped with their loss to Connecticut on Jan. 6 ... USF came into the game with a record 12-game home winning streak dating back to last season, however, that stretch was snapped with the 83-37 setback to the Huskies ... The Bulls surpassed the old mark of nine-consecutive with their 82-43 win over Northern Arizona on Dec. 20 ... USF held the old nine-game mark three separate times winning the last three games of 2004-05 and the first six games of 2005-06, during the 2004-05 campaign, and taking the last seven games of the 1976-76 campaign and the first two of 1977-78.
USF's Record 12-game record home winning streak Prior to its loss to UConn
Feb. 19, 2008 vs. Villanova, W, 77-66
March 1, 2008 vs. Pittsburgh, W, 65-64
Nov. 15, 2008 vs. Central Connecticut State, W, 100-41
Nov. 16, 2008 vs. Loyola (MD), W, 94-46
Nov. 18, 2008 vs. Stetson, W, 103-55
Nov. 23, 2008 vs. Coppin State, W, 97-43
Dec. 5, 2008 vs. Florida International, W, 99-71
Dec. 14, 2008 vs. North Florida, W, 90-44
Dec. 18, 2008 vs. Grambling, W, 126-62
Dec. 20, 2008 vs. Northern Arizona, W, 82-43
Dec. 21, 2008 vs. Southern, W, 100-47
Dec. 28, 2008 vs. Jackson State, W, 110-51
Working Overtime
USF's overtime win against St. John's improves the Bulls' all-time record in extra session games to 17-10 and 2-0 this season ... USF's last overtime game came earlier this year when it defeated Iowa, in the second game of the Paradise Jam in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands, 82-79.
In addition, USF is 10-3 in overtime games under Jose Fernandez and it has won its last seven extra session games.
USF's Overtime games under jose fernandez
2000-01
Western Kentucky L, 84-81
Memphis L, 81-71
2002-03
Bethune-Cookman W, 66-59
2003-04
No. 18 TCU W, 89-84 (2ot)
Cincinnati W, 66-64
2004-05
No. 8 Connecticut L, 75-65
2005-06
No. 11 DePaul W, 79-77
No. 22 Notre Dame W, 68-64
2006-07
Saint Joseph's W, 80-76
Notre Dame W, 87-78
2007-08
Syracuse W, 68-67
2008-09
Iowa W, 82-79
St. John's W, 81-71
USF A Lock When Leading At The Break
So far through its 19 games of the 2008-09 season, the Bulls are boasting a perfect 12-0 record when leading at the intermission ... Their two wins when behind at the break came with an 80-66 triumph at Tulane on Dec. 30. 2008 and a 81-71 overtime victory over St. John's on Jan. 10 ... In those games, USF trailed 36-33 after the first 20 minutes against the Green Wave and 42-37 at the break against the Red Storm before going on to the win.
