Bulls Return to Postseason, Host Stony Brook Wednesday in CBI
TAMPA, MARCH 17, 2019 – The USF men's basketball team makes its return to the postseason for the first time since 2012, as the Bulls were selected to play in the 2019 College Basketball Invitational and will host Stony Brook Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Yuengling Center.
USF season ticket members will receive an email Sunday night allowing them the opportunity to keep their same seats for Wednesday's game. Single-game tickets for the general public will go on sale Monday at noon and can be purchased at
www.ticketmaster.com. All 100 level seats can be purchased for $17 and all 200 level seats will be sold for $12. USF students will receive free admission thanks to the generosity of the USF Bulls Club members. USF will also provide a live BullsVision video stream of the game on www.GoUSFBulls.com and it can be heard live on 820 AM and the Bulls Unlimited channel on iHeartRadio.
The College Basketball Invitational (CBI) is a single-elimination tournament consisting of 16 teams that compete on home courts. The championship is determined through a best two-out-of-three series format featuring the final two teams that will be broadcast live on ESPNU. The 2019 CBI field includes USF, Stony Brook, West Virginia, Grand Canyon, Coastal Carolina, Howard, Utah Valley, Cal State Northridge, DePaul, Central Michigan, Longwood, Southern Miss, Cal Baptist, Loyola Marymount, Brown and UAB.
"We're excited to have the opportunity to play in the postseason and continue to build upon what we've already accomplished this year," USF head coach
Brian Gregory said. "Our players have worked extremely hard from the outset of the season to compete in postseason play. This tournament is a quality step in our process and will provide our team with valuable experience that we can use in years to come, and we can't wait to get back in front of our fans on Wednesday at the Yuengling Center."
USF (19-13) is in the midst of one of its greatest seasons in school history and has already tied for the fifth-most single-season wins in program history. The Bulls also finished the regular season with eight wins in American Athletic Conference play to mark its most in league history, which is also tied for the amount of AAC wins over the previous three years combined.
The Bulls will be competing in the postseason for the 12th time in program history and making their first appearance in the CBI. USF has made three appearances in the NCAA Tournament and eight trips to the NIT.
Individually, redshirt junior
Laquincy Rideau (West Palm Beach, Fla.) was named the 2019 AAC Defensive Player of the Year to become the first such winner in USF school history. Forward
Alexis Yetna (Paris) was tabbed the 2019 AAC Freshman of the Year to mark the first time USF has featured a Freshman of the Year since 1979, when the Bulls were a member of the Sun Belt Conference.
Sophomore
David Collins (Youngstown, Ohio) and Rideau were both named All-Conference Third Team to become the first two Bulls in AAC history to be named all-conference. Yetna was a unanimous selection to the All-Freshman Team, joining Collins as the only two Bulls in school history to be named to the AAC all-freshman team.
Stony Brook (24-8, 12-4) finished in second place in the America East Conference but was upset in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament by Binghamton. The Seawolves are led by First Team All-Conference member
Akwasi Yeboah, who led the team in scoring (16.6 ppg) and rebounding (7.8 rpg) during the campaign that featured wins over a Southeastern Conference opponent (South Carolina) and a pair of Atlantic 10 opponents (Rhode Island and George Washington). Stony Brook also defeated Northern Iowa, who advanced to the championship game in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament.
Stony Brook also features the Sixth Man of the Year in the America East, redshirt-sophomore
Andrew Garcia and the Defensive Player of the Year, sophomore
Jeff Otchere.
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About USF Men's Basketball
The USF men's basketball team is led by head coach Brian Gregory. On March 22, 2017, 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. In his first season at the helm of the Bulls, Gregory led the team to its first 10-plus win season since 2013-14.
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.
