Bragging rights will be up for grabs on Tuesday night as the South Florida Bulls travel down to Boca Raton to face FAU.
Quick Facts
Location: FAU Arena | Boca Raton, Florida
Date/Tip Time: Tuesday November 22, 7 p.m.
Watch: FAUSports.TV ($)
Listen: 820 AM (Jim Lighthall, Todd Kalas)
History: This is the fourteenth meeting between South Florida and the Florida Atlantic Owls. USF is 12-1 in the series, including a 3-1 record at FAU.
The Opponent
2015-16 Review: FAU finished the 2015-16 campaign with an 8-25 (5-13) record. They started the season by losing 12 of 14 non-conference games, including a 75-61 loss at UCF. Their two non-conference wins came against Miami (OH) and NAIA program Ave Maria.Three of the Owls C-USA wins, including one win in the C-USA Tournament came against the University of Texas-San Antonio who managed just five wins all season.FAU's two best wins came against Louisiana Tech (23-10) and Charlotte (14-19).Following a December 19 loss to Florida State, sophomore power forward CJ Turman withdrew from school, signed with an agent and went overseas to play professionally. He was the Owls best rebounder and was coming off of a freshman season where he had the Owls' second best effective field goal percentage for any player who attempted at least 100 shots.
2016-17 Outlook: Florida Atlantic (1-3) has four starters back and they have one of C-USA's most productive front courts. Only two of the returning players averaged double-digit points per game last season -- Adonis Filer and Ronald Delph -- who both averaged roughly 10.5 points. But they didn’t receive much help otherwise on offense. So far this season, Delph is averaging a team high 11.8 points and nine rebounds per game against Division I opponents.Opened the season with losses to Texas State, SIU-Edwardsville and Hawaii in the Outrigger Rainbow Classic in Honolulu. The Owls returned home to defeat NAIA program Edward Waters on Sunday. We were only able to scout the Owls game against Edward Waters and while we don't want to base too much of our expectations off of a game against a non Division I opponent, a couple of defensive observations stood out.The Owls play mostly a man-to-man defense but did occasionally drop back into a 2-1-2 zone out of a full court zone press following made free throws. The Owls also showed some man-to-man full court pressure off of made field goals.Michael Curry is in his third season as head coach of the Owls, his record at FAU is currently 18-47 (7-29). RTB expects the Owls to finish in 11th place in C-USA this season.
Four Things To Watch For
1. Early intensity
This is a big game for both teams. USF is playing their first road game of the season and their third game in five days before a break over Thanksgiving weekend. FAU is looking for their first win over a Division I opponent after two of their three losses in Hawaii were by a combined five points. FAU wants to play at a faster tempo than last season's 68.5 possessions per game so we expect them to try to get out in transition and take quick shots.
2. Geno's impact
In each game this season, Geno Thorpe has been the Bulls leading scorer. Thorpe’s 17.7 scoring average is ninth in the American Athletic Conference and he is coming off an 18-point game against Rider. The redshirt junior is also averaging two steals and just over four assists per game. We would like to see him get to the free throw line more often and knock those shots down at a higher rate than his current 58.3 percent.
3. Battle of the 7-footers
You knew we would get around to this eventually in this preview. The match up between Delp and Ruben Guerrero should tell us a lot about Guerrero going forward. Delp is very involved in the Owls offense, he takes 22.7 percent of his team's shots compared to Guerrero's 15.2 percent. In three games against Division I opponents Delp is averaging nine field goal attempts. Guerrero has had nine field goal attempts just once this season. Going up against another 7-footer, and a 6-foot-10 player the Owls bring off the bench, should put Guerrero in more of a comfort zone than chasing around 6-foot-8 guys. What the Bulls really need to see from Guerrero, sooner rather than later, is more toughness without fouling and offensive output similar to the opening game of the season against FAMU.
4. Free throw shooting
We expect another close game for the Bulls where free throws can make a huge difference. Under Coach Orlando Antigua, the Bulls have not been a good free throw shooting team, but they have managed to make at least 60 percent of their attempts the past two seasons. Against Rider and Elon the Bulls could not reach the 60 percent mark. This season only one Bull, who has attempted at least six free throws is shooting better than 69 percent -- Michael Bibby.
