What to Watch For: South Florida vs. Houston
After a COVID-19 pause that resulted in seven games being postponed or canceled, the South Florida Bulls (7-5, 3-3 AAC) are preparing to face American Athletic Conference rival No. 7/8 Houston Wednesday night.
USF returned to their practice gym early last week with an eye towards logging just its fourth game in 2021. They last saw game action in a 69-63 victory at East Carolina on Jan. 9.
The Bulls are in search of their first win over a ranked opponent since 2012.
Houston boat raced NAIA team Our Lady of the Lake 112-46 in a fill in game after an 82-73 loss to East Carolina on Wednesday.
BullsInsider.com has your quick facts and what to watch for against Houston.
Quick Facts
Matchup: USF (7-5, 3-3 AAC) at Houston (16-2, 10-2 AAC)
Date: Wednesday, Feb. 10
Time: 7 p.m. ET
Location: Tampa, FL | Yuengling Center
Watch: ESPNU
Radio: USF Bulls Unlimited
History: This will be the 33rd meeting between the Cougars and the Bulls. Houston leads the series 20-12 and has won seven straight against USF.
The Opponent: In addition to their AP/Coaches Poll rankings the Cougars rank No. 5 in the NET and rank are the second best team in the country in scoring defense at 56.9 points per game.
When you think of Houston you typically think of Quentin Grimes, DeJon Jarreau, and Marcus Sasser – and with good reason. Grimes (16.2 ppg) and Sasser (15.7 ppg) lead the Cougars in scoring. They are also the fourth and fifth leading scorers in The American.
Grimes 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.
Sasser is a shooter with deep range – 68 percent of his shots are threes and he’s making 39.6 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.
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 is not a great three-point shooter but he has already made as many threes (seven) as he did all of last season.
After playing in a limited role for the Cougars last season, 6-foot-7, 225-pound forward Justin Gorham is having himself a heck of a season in place of injured Fabian White. Gorham ranks second in the Nation in OREB per game at 4.65 and the leading rebounder in the AAC at 10.2 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 (41.7 on 10-of-24). 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 (92.7 percent) and are excellent at it. Four 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 55 Houston 72
To win USF’s legs must hold up so they can be the tougher team for 40 minutes, take care of the ball, 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.