Bulls Hit the Road Wednesday Against ECU

Bulls Hit the Road Wednesday Against ECU

Matchup: USF (7-11, 0-5 The American) at ECU (7-10, 1-5 The American)
Date: Wednesday, Jan. 17
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Greenville, N.C. | Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum (7,100)
TV: ESPN3 (Evan Lepler, Nate Ross)
Radio: AM 820 | USF Bulls Unlimited (Jim Lighthall)
Follow: Listen | Stats | Twitter

GAME NOTES

TAMPA, FLA., JAN. 16, 2018 – The USF men's basketball team travels to Greenville, N.C. in search of its first American Athletic Conference win of the season. The Bulls have dropped the first five games of the conference season after facing the league's top four teams at the end of nonconference play.

The Bulls (7-11, 0-5 AAC) will face the Pirates exactly two weeks after the first meeting of the season between the two teams. ECU took the first half of the season series, 67-65, at the Sun Dome on Jan. 3. USF had the ball at the end of the game with a chance to win, but Terrence Samuel's three attempt came up just short. Isaiah Manderson also had a tip-in off Samuel's three that missed the mark for a tie, allowing ECU to escape with a road victory.

Stephan Jiggetts (Forestville, Md.) was the Bulls' leading scorer in the game, scoring 18 points with five rebounds and five assists. Samuel (Bronx, N.Y.) tied his season high in points in the game, scoring 15. All 15 of his points came in the second half, which is one short of the USF season high for points in a half.

USF is coming off a loss to No. 14 Cincinnati in its most recent game, 78-55. The Bulls led for 15:53 in the first half and extended their lead to as much as 10 before the Bearcats came back at the end of the first half and pulled away.

Wing Payton Banks (Orange, Calif.) made his return after missing three of the last four games due to illness. Banks scored 22 points off the bench to lead all scorers in the game. He was 7-of-10 from the field and 4-of-5 from three in the game.

Prior to the game against Cincinnati, the only conference game that Banks had appeared in was the ECU game. He played 10 minutes off the bench and attempted two shots before being held out of the Wichita State game.

  
THE OPPONENT 

ECU (7-10, 1-5 AAC) has lost three straight games since its victory at the Sun Dome two weeks ago. The Pirates last played Sunday afternoon at home against Houston, a 65-49 loss. Redshirt freshman guard Shawn Williams led the Pirates against the Cougars with 17 points.

Against the Bulls, Kentrell Barkley led all ECU scorers with 16 points on 6-of-13 from the field.

Leading scorer B.J. Tyson had 12 points in the game and dished out six assists. He is averaging 15.5 points per game on the season for the Pirates. Tyson, a senior, needs just 76 points to overtake former SMU guard Nic Moore as the all-time leading scorer in American Athletic Conference history. Tyson has scored 1,386 points in 107 career games, averaging 13.0 points per game.

USF and ECU will meet for the 16th time on Wednesday night. The Bulls hold a slim 8-7 lead in the all-time series, while ECU leads, 4-3, at Minges Coliseum.

NOTABLES

  • The Bulls' first five opponents in conference play have a combined record of 63-23 this season.
  • A win would mark the first victory outside of the state of Florida since Dec. 1, 2016 at Troy, a span of 13 games. The Bulls have not won a conference road game since Feb. 16, 2016 at ECU.
  • The Bulls have used a different starting lineup in four straight games.
  • Malik Martin has 27 blocks on the season for an average of 1.5 per game. He is tied for fifth in the American Athletic Conference in blocks and leads the Bulls in rebounding through five conference games, averaging 6.2 boards per contest.

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 10th 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.

– #GoBulls –

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