TAMPA, Fla., (Jan. 17, 2022) – South Florida looks to make it two wins in a row when the Bulls travel to Houston, Texas for a matchup with 10th ranked Houston on Tuesday night.
USF is coming off a 75-51 blowout of UCF on Saturday night. The Bulls hit a season-high eight threes and never trailed in that romp.
Houston survived a Tulsa rally to escape with a 66-64 win Saturday. The Cougars are off to a 4-0 start in the AAC for the first time.
BullsInsider.com has your quick facts and what to watch for against Houston:
Quick Facts
Matchup: USF (6-10, 1-3 AAC) at Houston (15-2, 4-0 AAC)
Date: Tuesday Jan.18
Time: 8 p.m. ET
Location: Houston, TX | Fertitta Center
Watch: ESPN+
Radio: USF Bulls Unlimited
History: USF is 12-23 all-time versus Houston with the Cougars winning the last ten games. The last Bulls win in the series came on Jan. 23, 2016 in Houston.
The Opponent: Already without junior guard Marcus Sasser (foot) and sophomore guard Tramon Mark (shoulder) for the rest of the season, Houston lost sophomore point guard Jamal Shead to an ankle injury in the first half of their Saturday game.
During his Monday media availability Cougars head coach Kelvin Sampson said that Shead is “out this whole week. Good chance he’ll be out next week too.”
When the Bulls faced Houston 12-days ago we had Fabian White and Josh Carlton at the top of our scouting report – and with good reason. The Cougars play through the duo who combined for 45 of Houston’s 83 points and grabbed 15 rebounds. Most of which came on Carlton’s career-high 30 points with 11 rebounds.
Carlton is a strong, physical post who seals hard. He wants to overpower his defender. Carlton is a physical and aggressive offensive rebounder, especially on his own misses. He is averaging 5.75 OREB in his last four games. USF bigs cannot allow Carlton to get deep post position – meet him early and push him out.
Houston runs stuff to isolate him in the post area but he can score inside or out. He prefers the left block/short corner. In the post he wants to get to his left shoulder jump hook. White will face up to shoot or drive to get to his left shoulder. Wants to drive right, if he goes left he’ll spin back to his right. USF MUST cut him out of rebounds. In his last four games White has averaged 3.0 OREB.
Cal. St. Bakersfield grad transfer Taze Moore (Tah-ZAY) is struggling beyond the arc this season but will shoot open threes in transition. He is better at getting to, and finishing above, the rim. Moore is versatile and can impact the game without scoring. Could play some lead guard.
In his three games since returning from an ankle injury, Kyler Edwards is averaging 16.3 points and 5.3 assists per game. He likes to shoot threes off the catch and looks to shoot jumpers off ball screens. Edwards could be Houston’s primary ball handler Tuesday.
Tuesday will be freshman Ramon Walker Jr’s eighth game. The 6-foot-4, 210-pound wing is a shooter who likes corner threes. He hunts threes in transition and off drives and kicks.
Houston runs almost a ball screen continuity offense but, due to injuries, is also playing inside-out. The Cougars run when it is available and play offense with great intensity.
Houston has played almost exclusively man (97.4%) defense this season but is playing some 3-2 zone several possessions per game to compensate for the Cougars’ lack of depth due to injuries.
Keys To A Win
To win USF needs to guard the basketball, limit turnovers, make shots and rebound. If Jalyn McCreary and Jake Boggs are unavailable we expect the Bulls to use more zone to protect its bigs from foul trouble.
