South Florida will play two of its final three games on the road beginning with Sunday's game at No. 12/10 ranked Houston.
The Bulls are coming off a 65-47 loss to Temple on Wednesday.
Quentin Grimes scored a career-high 33 points and had six rebounds to help the 12th-ranked Cougars beat WKU 81-57 Thursday night in Houston.
BullsInsider.com has your quick facts and what to watch for against Houston.
Quick Facts
Matchup: USF (8-9, 4-7 AAC) at Houston (19-3, 12-3 AAC)
Date: Sunday, Feb. 28
Time: 4 p.m. ET
Location: Houston, TX. | Fertitta Center
Watch: ESPNU
Radio: USF Bulls Unlimited
History: This will be the 34th meeting between the Cougars and the Bulls. Houston leads the series 21-12 and has won eight straight against the Bulls.
The Opponent: Since 2015-16, the Cougars have posted an 87-11 (.888) record while competing in three different home venues, including a 60-3 (.952) mark in the last 3+ seasons. Houston is 41-3 (.932) in the Fertitta Center during the facility’s history.
Grimes leads Houston in scoring and is second in rebounds. He really looks to attack downhill in ball screens and will use the Euro Step to finish. He is an aggressive scorer in transition, hard straight line driver and will use a shot fake to set up his drive. We like his mid-range stop and pop shot.
Marcus Sasser is a shooter with deep range – 67 percent of his shots are threes and he’s making 35.5 percent of his 3FGA. He is always moving and will shoot behind ball screens or hand-offs. Sasser uses a shot fake to set up his drives. He prefers to pull-up or shoot a floater. USF must stay down on his shot fake and guard the ball.
Senior Jarreau is a long, athletic, 6-foot-5 point guard who changes speeds really well. He wants to get downhill, has a nice floater and added a pull-up jumper to his repertoire. Houston sets a ton of ball screens for Jarreau. He has dramatically improved his three-point shooting from 17.5 percent last season to 34.5 percent this season.
Justin Gorhman’s numbers have settled a bit but the 6-foot-7, 225-pound forward is still having a heck of a season. Gorham ranks third in the Nation in OREB per game at 4.38 and is the leading rebounder in the AAC at 9.5 per game. The Bulls MUST put a body on him and cut him out of rebounds.
That’s not all Gorham is good at doing. He is a capable pick and pop 3FG shooter (40.5 on 15-of-37). Gorham will look to spot up for kick out three off teammate’s penetration (he likes the corners). In the post he wants to get to his left shoulder – right hand jump hook and will play along the baseline for drop-offs and put-backs.
Houston plays almost exclusively man (93.0 percent) and are excellent at it. Five Cougars have at least 20 steals. In the three games we watched we only saw a 3-2 zone.
On offense, Houston runs very few set plays and when they do it’s after a dead ball. They are a space and pace offense with some ball screen action.
Prediction
USF 62 Houston 82
To win USF must find a way to be the tougher team for 40 minutes. Have 10 turnovers or less. Attack Houston to score but be ready to kick out because they over help. Rebound with all five guys and limit Houston to one shot. Guard the ball, Houston tries to isolate its best players in space to score.
