By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer

TAMPA, NOV. 22, 2017 – USF dominated on both ends of the floor in a 75-52 victory over Howard on Wednesday night at the Sun Dome.

USF (3-2) knocked down a season-high 11 three-pointers, shooting 45 percent from long range and 44 percent overall with 19 assists on 25 field goals.

Head coach Brian Gregory's Bulls also limited Howard (0-6) to a 33 percent shooting performance from the floor (3-for-23 from beyond the arc) and scored 24 points off 19 Bison turnovers.

Stephan Jiggetts (Forestville, Md.) made four of his five three-point attempts, finishing with a team-high 16 points, and his six rebounds helped USF grab a 42-36 edge on the boards.

Payton Banks (Orange, Calif.) tied his season high with four three-pointers and scored in double figures for the third straight game with 14 points. Tulio Da Silva (Formiga, Brazil) added 10 points, while Terrence Samuel (Brooklyn, N.Y.) finished with nine points and a team-high four assists.

After leading Indiana at the half the last time out, USF used another hot start to grab a 36-24 advantage by the break. Banks made three three-pointers in the opening half for second straight game and netted his third right before the buzzer to get up to 11 points.

Tied at 16-16, USF seized control of the game with a 17-1 run over the next six minutes. Howard made only two of its final 10 shots from the field and finished the half shooting 32 percent (9-for-28).

The Bulls pumped their lead up to 51-28 with a 12-0 run early in the second half. Jiggetts hit consecutive three-pointers during the run before Justin Brown (Birmingham, Ala.) made USF's 10^th bucket from long range to extend the advantage to 56-30 with 11:58 remaining.

Quotable
Head coach Brian Gregory on the Bulls shutting down a good offensive opponent:
"It was a total team effort defensively because there are so many ball screens that you have to get out there. Our big guys did a great job. To hold that team to 33 percent, 13 from the three, any way you slice it, it was a great defensive effort. And to force 19 turnovers, we were very active defensively. A lot of deflections, a lot of loose balls that we came up with, which created some easy baskets for us."

Payton Banks on the Bulls sharing the basketball, which led to a productive offensive night:
"In practice, it's been a huge emphasis – drive to kick, instead of always driving to score. We learned from our mistakes at Indiana and we're finding the open guy now, which is good."

Key Stats
24 – USF scored 24 points off 19 Howard turnovers.
19 – USF finished with 19 assists on 25 made field goals.
11 – The sharp-shooting Bulls made 11 of their 24 three-point attempts (45.8 percent).
8 – Eight different Bulls scored at least five points.

Notable

• Guard Stephan Jiggetts is 79 points away from reaching 1,000 in his career. Jiggetts, a graduate transfer, scored 863 points for Fairleigh Dickinson before arriving at USF.
• Wednesday marked Brian Gregory's 251^st victory as a head coach. Gregory racked up 172 wins at Dayton from 2003-11 and won 78 more games at Georgia Tech prior to joining the program.
• Eleven different Bulls logged in minutes Wednesday night. Freshman Joey Coffaro (Arlington Heights, Ill.) and sophomore Henry Beard (Seminole, Fla.) saw their first action of the season.
• USF will eat Thanksgiving dinner together after practice and then spend time in the film room on Thursday night.

Up Next
USF continues its Hoosier Tip-Off Classic run with another home game against Arkansas State on Friday at noon. Reserve your seats at USFBullsTix.com.
 
About USF Men's Basketball
The USF men's basketball team is led by head coach Brian Gregory. On March 22, Gregory was introduced as the 10^th head coach in program history. He previously led programs at Georgia Tech (2011-16) and Dayton (2003-11). Gregory spent nearly a decade as an assistant coach under Michigan State's Hall of Fame head coach Tom Izzo and helped the Spartans win the 2000 NCAA National Championship. Gregory brings nearly 250 career head coaching wins and six postseason appearances, including the 2010 NIT Championship, to Tampa.

USF has retired three numbers in its 47-year history: Chucky Atkins (12), Charlie Bradley (30) and Radenko Dobras (31). The Bulls have earned three NCAA tournament bids and appeared in the NIT eight times.

For tickets, contact the USF Ticket Office at 1-800-Go-Bulls or by going online to USFBullsTix.com.