Bulls Face No. 9 Shockers in First AAC Meeting

Bulls Face No. 9 Shockers in First AAC Meeting

Matchup: USF (7-9, 0-3 The American) at No. 9 Wichita State (12-2, 2-0 The American)
Date: Sunday, Jan. 7
Time: 4 p.m. EST
Location: Wichita, Kan. | Charles Koch Arena (10,506)
TV: CBS Sports Network (Rich Waltz, Bob Wenzel)
Radio: AM 820 | USF Bulls Unlimited (Jim Lighthall, Joey Johnston)
Follow: Listen | Stats | Twitter

GAME NOTES

TAMPA, FLA., JAN. 6, 2018 – The USF men's basketball team travels to Kansas to take on No. 9 Wichita State in the first-ever meeting between the Bulls and the Shockers. Tip-off is slated for 4 p.m. on Sunday and will be broadcast live on CBS Sports Network.

The game is the first American Athletic Conference meeting between these two schools in basketball after the Shockers joined the conference on July 1, 2017.

The Bulls (7-9, 0-3 AAC) are coming off a tough loss to ECU, 67-65, on Wednesday. It was the third straight loss for USF after winning three straight to close out conference play.

Stephan Jiggetts (Forestville, Md.) led USF in scoring in the game with 18 points. It was the fifth time this season that Jiggetts has led the Bulls in scoring in a game. He added five rebounds and five assists to fill up the stat sheet.

Terrence Samuel (Brooklyn, N.Y.) was the Bulls' second leading scorer in the game, scoring 15 points, all in the second half. The 15 points tied his season high, which he set at Stetson on Nov. 15, and fell one short of his career high.

USF used its fourth different starting lineup of the season in the game, with Isaiah Manderson (Bronx, N.Y.) making his first USF start in place of Nikola Scekic (Belgrade, Serbia). Manderson leads the Bulls in scoring through three conference games, averaging 10.7 points per contest. He has added 5.0 boards per game, which is second on the team.

Justin Brown (Birmingham, Ala.) made his third straight start in place of Payton Banks (Orange, Calif.). Banks made his return after sitting out the previous two games due to illness and played 10 minutes, attempting two shots. Brown played a career high 34 minutes against ECU and has averaged 32.7 minutes since the beginning of AAC play, the most on the Bulls.

  
THE OPPONENT 

No. 9 Wichita State (12-2, 2-0) is coming off of a commanding victory over Houston in its first American Athletic Conference home game. The Shockers defeated the Cougars, 81-63, on Wednesday night.

Shockers leading scorer Landry Shamet scored 18 points in the game to lead the way. Shamet is averaging 17.1 points per game, which is fifth in the conference. Shamet is shooting 55.3 percent from the field this season, which is fourth in the conference, and has dished out 4.6 assists per game, which is second in the American.

Wichita State also has the third-leading rebounder in the conference in Rashard Kelly, who is averaging 7.8 boards per contest.

The Shockers are led by head coach Gregg Marshall, who is in his 11th season at the school and 20th season overall. Marshall has led Wichita State to six straight NCAA tournament berths, including a Final Four in the 2012-13 season.

Marshall returned all five starters and 12 players overall from a team that finished 31-5 and reached the NCAA tournament second round. They were also 17-1 in their final season in the Missouri Valley Conference, taking the conference title.

NOTABLES

  • The game is the 131st all-time for the Bulls against a ranked opponent and the 48th all-time against a top 10 team. USF last defeated a ranked opponent on Feb. 29, 2012, a 58-51 victory at No. 19 Louisville.
  • The meeting in Wichita marks only the second time USF has played a game in the state of Kansas. The Bulls previously played at the Kansas Jayhawks in 2011, a loss for USF.
  • USF's freshmen duo of Justin Brown and David Collins became the first pair of USF freshman to score 15-plus points in the same game since Feb. 6, 1999 at Tulane when they accomplished the feat against Houston. B.B. Waldon and Altron Jackson were the last freshmen to do it for the Bulls.
  • Justin Brown needs just two more made threes to crack the USF top 10 for freshmen in a single season. Brown has made at least one three in nine straight games and has made multiple threes in four of the last five games.
  • The Bulls sit second in the conference and 45th nationally in three point field goal defense, holding opponents to 31.0 percent (104-for-335) from three. Only Tulane is better than the Bulls in the AAC at 30.9 percent.

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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