What To Watch For: South Florida at Temple
South Florida travels to Pennsylvania Sunday to face Temple for the first time this season.
USF was originally scheduled to play SMU today but Thursday the American Athletic Conference announced that game was postponed "due to a suspension of activities with the SMU program.”
The Bulls, who are on a three game skid, fell to UCF in Orlando Wednesday night 81-65.
Temple lost its fifth consecutive game Tuesday night at Tulsa 72-66.
BullsInsider.com has your quick facts and what to watch for against Temple:
Quick Facts
Matchup: USF (7-8, 3-6 AAC) at Temple (4-9, 3-9 AAC)
Date: Sunday, Feb. 21
Time: 12 p.m.
Location: Philadelphia, Pa. | Liacouras Center
Watch: ESPN+
Radio: Bulls Unlimited
History: This will be the 15th meeting between Temple and USF. The Bulls trail in the all-time series 3-11. USF’s victory last season in Philly was its first win over Temple since Jan. 9, 2014.
The Opponent: Temple has played Houston, SMU, Cincinnati and Tulsa twice each. That is the toughest AAC schedule as of Feb. 19.
Redshirt freshman wing Damian Dunn is Temple’s leading scorer (13.8 ppg) and fourth leading rebounder. Dunn moves well without the ball and has a nose for finding open space to cut into to score. He is not a good perimeter shooter (20 percent) but Dunn draws fouls better than anyone in the AAC. He ranks fifth in the NCAA in free throws made per game (6.33) and third in attempted (8.25). Dunn sustained a knee injury in the first half at Cincinnati, missed Temple’s game at Tulsa and will be a game time decision Sunday.
If Dunn is unable to play expect Khalif (KAY-liff) Battle to start in his place. Battle leads all Division I reserves in minutes per game (29.5) and is the only other TU player scoring in double figures (11.6). Battle can drive it either direction and can finish with either hand. He is not a consistent three-point shooter but if he has time and space Battle can knock them down.
Center Jake Forrester is making 56.5 percent of his field goals, good for top-5 in the AAC, but he is turnover prone. Forrester is an EXCELLENT roll man in ball screen action and Temple does throw it to him. He has made 73 percent of his shots in that play type. We like his athleticism and feel for the game in traffic.
J.P. Moorman II is a great No. 2 man for TU. Moorman is second on the team in rebounding, assists, steals and three-point shooting accuracy (34.1 percent). The 6-foot-7 forward is a good post-up scorer. He’ll use a spin move and shot fakes to get a defender off his feet to score.
Dartmouth grad transfer Brenden Barry is the court spacer for TU. Barry has taken the most three-point attempts on the team and is making 44 percent of them. Almost 60 percent of Barry’s shots are off the catch and he makes 61 percent of those. USF cannot lose him in transition.
Offensively, TU tries to get shots in the paint from its four-out offense. The Owls are shooting just 38.3 percent in its half-court offense.
Defensively Temple plays almost exclusively man (98.6 percent) and opponents are shooting 40.8 percent against their man defense. The Temple zone defense is so bad that they haven’t used it in four games.
Prediction
USF 68 Temple 65
To get a win USF must first and foremost shoot better than they did Wednesday. The Bulls need to win the rebound battle, convert second chance opportunities, contain Battle and Dunn (if he plays) and match the Owls toughness.