The South Florida men’s basketball team hits the road for Orlando to face UCF Wednesday evening for the first of four consecutive away games. USF won’t return to the Yuengling Center until March 3.
The Bulls, who fell to Tulane 62-59 Sunday afternoon, have been bested in three of their last four games.
The Knights lost two of their last three games—played in a five-day span—by a combined two points.
BullsInsider.com has your quick facts and what to watch for against UCF:
Quick Facts
Matchup: USF (7-7, 3-5) at UCF (6-11, 4-10)
Date: Wednesday, Feb. 17
Time: 7 p.m. EST
Location: Orlando, Florida | Addition Financial Arena
Watch: ESPNU
Radio: Bulls Unlimited
History: This will be the 43rd meeting between the two programs. The Bulls have a 24-18 advantage in the series and defeated the Knights 68-61 in Tampa on Jan. 2.
The Opponent: Injuries and Covid have had a big impact on the Knights’ season to the extent that UCF has played recent games with just nine scholarship players available. Still, UCF has two of the top-10 scorers in The American.
Darius Perry has absolutely been on fire for UCF lately. He has six consecutive double figure games and is averaging 19 points in his last four games. Perry scored 23 points to go along with six assists against the Bulls Jan. 2. USF must keep him in front using great one on one on ball discipline. He wants to shoot. Perry is a streaky but capable three-point shooter making 37.5 percent of his attempts. Do not foul him because Perry makes 84.1 percent of his free throws.
USF shut Brandon Mahan down in Tampa limiting him to three shots and two points in 30 minutes of action. Still he is a major threat as Cincinnati found out Sunday when Mahan made 5-of-8 threes. Mahan runs hard in transition for kick ahead threes. In the half court Mahan wants catch and shoot opportunities. He is a good rebounder and will fly in from the perimeter. He leads UCF in points and rebounds.
Sophomore guard Darin Green Jr. is another UCF “shooter.” He likes catch-and-shoot threes, both in transition and in UCF’s half-court offense. He is an aggressive shooter but will drive it. Green has made the fifth most three-pointers in the AAC this season.
Isaiah Adams is a legit AAC All-Freshman team candidate. He does most of his scoring inside the arc but can hit threes with time and space. Adams is an athletic downhill driver. He crashes the offensive glass hard and plays for steals on defense.
Dre Fuller is one of the first Knights off the bench. He is an explosive athlete, runs hard and flies to the glass for rebounds. Fuller slashes and cuts well without the ball. Loves working along the baseline looking for lobs off back screens. USF must keep vision on him, keep him in front and contest.
UCF plays mostly man (86.5 percent) but they do use a couple of zones. During our scout we saw 1-3-1 and a 2-3 zone. Sometimes the 1-3-1 will change to a 2-3 zone after the first or second pass. Watch for them to spring a press after a timeout or a made basket.
On offense, UCF likes to play inside-out to get kick-out threes. They will run some high post actions with their center.
Prediction
USF 63 UCF 66
To win USF must limit turnovers, play with toughness, don’t get sped up by the UCF press and pound the glass. UCF averages nine OREB/game and are excellent at scoring on put backs (12-of-16) so USF will need to gang rebound.
