Bulls Set to Host Cincinnati Wednesday
Matchup: USF Bulls (11-9, 2-4 AAC) vs. Cincinnati Bearcats (13-7, 5-2 AAC)
Date: Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2019
Time: 7p.m. ET
Location: Tampa, Fla., Yuengling Center
Broadcast: American Digital Network (Lincoln Rose & Angela Beck & Andy Wontor)
Radio: AM 1040 & at 8 p.m.
Bulls Unlimited (
Darek Sharp & Brigid Merenda)
Live Stats: GoUSFBulls.com
Twitter Updates:@USFWBB
TAMPA, Fla. Jan. 29, 2019 – USF women's basketball will return to the Yuengling Center on Wednesday night and host conference foe Cincinnati at 7 p.m. ET.
Wednesday night's game will feature a special promotion for families affected by the government shutdown. Families who were impacted including federal employees without pay may receive free admission to Wednesday night's game by
following this link and using the promo code GOV.
USF (11-9, 2-4 AAC) is hungry to return home after two tough last-minute losses to SMU and Memphis.
Tamara Henshaw (Palm Coast, Fla.) led USF in last week's contests with back-to-back double-doubles. She had a career high 15 rebounds against SMU and a career high 16 points against Memphis.
South Florida has been limited to just eight healthy players, with six Bulls carrying the bulk of the minutes. Adversity struck the Bulls this season, who have been without five players, including three Bulls out for the season.
Kitija Laksa (Riga, Latvia), USF's returning leading scorer for the 2018-19 campaign and player of the year candidate, suffered a season-ending injury on Nov. 15.
Beatriz Jordao (Pombal, Portugal), after a promising start, will forego the remainder of her freshman campaign when a nagging injury won out to end 2018. Freshman
Silvia Serrat (Banyoles, Spain) is sidelined with a ACL/meniscus tear suffered in the offseason. Senior
Laura Ferreira (Lisboa, Portugal) has missed action due to illness and junior
Alyssa Rader (Thornton, Colo.) has missed the last four games with a concussion.
Sydni Harvey (Nashville, Tenn.) carries the bulk of the scoring of healthy players, averaging 13.2 points per game. She is the lone Bull to play and start in all 20 games.
Enna Pehadzic (Horsens, Denmark) is right behind with 8.7 points per game.
Shae Leverett (Rincon, Ga.) and Henshaw are the only other Bulls to play in all 20 contests and both average over 7.0 points per game.
Harvey's Hot from the Charity Stripe
Sydni Harvey is hitting 88.7 percent of her shots from the free-throw line, a conference leading statistic.
Boards for the Bulls
Rebounding has been the secret weapon for the Bulls, who are out-performing opponents on the boards by 12.5 per game, good enough for sixth nationally. USF leads the conference in rebounding offense, rebounding defense, rebounding margin, defensive rebounding percentage and offensive rebounding percentage.
The Opponent
Cincinnati Bearcats
Cincinnati (13-7, 5-2 AAC) is on a four game win streak and sits in third place in the American Athletic Conference. Cincinnati's two conference losses come from UCF, a 55-56 defeat in Orlando, and from UConn, a 38-82 let down.
All-time against Cincinnati, USF leada 15-14, but USF owns the last 11 meetings. The Bearcats are led by Ilmar'I Thomas with 13.5 points per game, but Antoinette Miller is right behind with 11.7 points per game. Thomas also leads on the boards with 7.3 rebounds per game. She leads the American in field goal percentage, hitting 66.7 percent from the floor.
Notable
- Henshaw led USF with two double-doubles last week, where she set her career high in points and rebounds.
- USF defeated Tulane by 27, The highest margin in a conference game for USF this year, and the largest winning margin for USF since it defeated Vermont on Dec. 17, 2018.
- Rebounding is a key for USF, who is out-performing opponents on the boards by 12.5, a good enough margin for sixth nationally and conference-leading statistic.
- Sydni Harvey leads the conference in free-throw percentage with 88.7.
- The Bulls have been without Silvia Serrat, Kitija Laksa, Beatriz Jordao, Laura Ferreira and Alyssa Rader in the contest against Tulane. The inactive Bulls average over 50 points this season.
Follow the Action
The game will be broadcast live on the American Digital Network on a free live stream with Lincoln Rose and Angela Beck analyzing the action. Andy Wondor will be reporting from the sideline. Fans can follow the action with live radio on AM 1040 and after 8 p.m. on Bulls Unlimited with
Darek Sharp on the call and Brigid Merenda analyzing the action. Live stats will be available on StatBroadcast and on GoUSFBulls.com.
Up Next
USF will hit the road for the War on I-4 when the Bulls travel to Orlando, Fla., on Sunday to face UCF at 1 p.m. ET.
About USF Women's Basketball
To stay up-to-date on the latest USF women's basketball news, follow the Bulls on social media (
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Instagram).
USF notched its sixth consecutive 20-win season and fourth straight NCAA Tournament appearance in 2017-18. It marked the ninth 20-win season in program history, with head coach Jose Fernandez at the helm for all nine. The Bulls posted 26 wins in 2017-18, just shy of the program record of 27 set in 2008-09 and 2014-15.
USF has made 14 postseason tournament appearances and had six NCAA Tournament berths in head coach Jose Fernandez's 18 seasons. The all-time winningest coach in program history, Fernandez has guided USF to nine 20-win seasons, two WNIT final four appearances, the 2009 WNIT championship and won more than 300 games.
--#GoBulls –
