USF Athletics

Bulls return to action at home against SMU

January 25, 2022

GAMEDAY INFORMATION

University of South Florida (6-11, 1-4 AAC) vs. SMU (14-4, 5-1 AAC)

Wednesday, January 26 | 7 p.m. ET

VENUE: Yuengling Center | Tampa, Fla.

SERIES: SMU leads, 12-6

TV: ESPN+

RADIO: iHeart Radio Bulls Unlimited

TWITTER UPDATES: @USFMBB

GAME NOTES: View

 

TAMPA (January 25, 2022) – The University of South Florida Bulls return to action for the first time in over a week to face off against the SMU Mustangs for the second time this month. South Florida's recent layoff stemmed from a postponement against Temple last Saturday.

The Bulls' last action was a 74-55 setback at No. 10 Houston on January 18. USF trailed at Houston at halftime, 38-18, before outscoring the Cougars in the second half, 74-55. DJ Patrick scored a season-high 19 points in that game on 7-12 shooting (5-10 from downtown).

The Bulls out-rebounded Houston, 39-36, after seeing the Cougars hold a 40-31 advantage in the last meeting. USF is 6-4 this season when winning the rebounding battle and 0-7 when falling short.

Russel Tchewa leads USF in rebounding (5.3) and Javon Greene has a team-high 66 defensive boards.

Jamir Chaplin recently put together a career-long streak of five straight games with double digit points, including back-to-back games with a career-high 17 points. He also matched a career high with eight rebounds in USF's 75-51 win over UCF and dished out a career-high five assists vs. Houston earlier this month. Bayron Matos (9) and Corey Walker Jr. (7) each pulled down season high rebounds against UCF as well, and Sam Hines Jr. (7) matched a season high with seven rebounds at Houston. Caleb Murphy nearly recorded a triple-double at Houston last week, finishing with 12 points and career highs in assists (8) and rebounds (8). Prior to missing the last two games, Jalyn McCreary had been shooting 69% (20-29) over his last five outings.

Including Wednesday's tilt against SMU, South Florida's first six conference games have included four matchups against the top two teams in the American standings.

SMU is averaging 76.6 points per game this season and will face a USF defense that ranks 37th in the NCAA in scoring defense (62.9 ppg). The Mustangs are shooting 37 percent from downtown which ranks 42nd nationally. The Bulls are holding teams to a 30 percent clip from three-point range this season but saw SMU go 9-21 (43%) from beyond the arc in the last meeting in early January.

 

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About USF Men's Basketball

The USF men's basketball team is led by head coach Brian Gregory, who enters his fifth season in 2021-22. Gregory was introduced as the 10th head coach in program history in March of 2017 after previously leading 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 owns over 300 career head coaching wins and six postseason appearances, including the 2010 NIT Championship with Dayton. In his second season at the helm of the Bulls, Gregory led the team to the best win turnaround in the NCAA, the most single-season wins in school history and the 2019 College Basketball Invitational championship. 
 
USF has retired three numbers in its 51-year history: Chucky Atkins (12), Charlie Bradley (30) and Radenko Dobras (31). The Bulls have earned three NCAA tournament bids, appeared in the NIT eight times and won the 2019 College Basketball Invitational.
 
For tickets, contact the USF Ticket Office at 1-800-Go-Bulls or by going online to USFBullsTix.com.

– #GoBulls –