TAMPA, Fla., (Feb. 17, 2023) – The South Florida men’s basketball team returns home for its only American Athletic Conference regular season matchup with Tulane on Saturday.
USF snapped a two-game losing streak with a dominant 96-69 victory at Tulsa Wednesday. The Bulls' 96 points are the program's most ever in an AAC game.
Tulane has won four consecutive games. Four of the Green Wave’s last five games were overtime affairs.
BullsInsider.com has your quick facts and what to watch for against Tulane:
Quick Facts
Matchup: USF (11-15; 4-9 AAC) vs. Tulane (16-7; 9-3 AAC)
Date: Feb. 18
Time: 8:00 p.m. ET
Location: Tampa, Fla. | Yuengling Center
Watch: ESPNU
Radio: 102.5 The Strike HD-2 & Bulls Unlimited (TuneIn)
History: USF is 17-24 all-time versus Tulane. The Green Wave have won the last three contests, including a 76-57 victory in Tampa last February.
The Opponent: The second and third leading scorers in the AAC – Jalen Cook and Jaylen Forbes – key the Tulsa attack.
Sophomore point guard, Cook, is an aggressive scoring guard who is very dangerous on every catch. He wants to attack off the bounce. Cook prefers to go left. He is very good in ball screens. Watch for him to reject the ball screen with a crossover. An 89.5 percent free throw shooter, USF must defend Cook without fouling.
Forbes, a junior shooting guard, is a three-level scorer and looks to score on every touch. He can get it done off the catch or off the bounce. His jumper gets him going. Fifty percent of Forbes’ shots are threes. Watch for him to attack the elbow from the top of the key for a pull-up. Forbes is a great cutter from the corners and he’s quick to follow his misses around the basket.
At 6-foot-8, 240-pounds, Kevin Cross is a skilled/tough forward who plays the 5 in the Green Wave’s 5-Out offense. He is a good roller after setting a ball screen. Watch out because he will sometimes short roll instead of rolling to the rim. A good passer, Cross is averaging five assists per game in conference play. He is a right hand driver, if he goes left he’ll spin back to score. Cross is long and quick off his feet. USF must keep him off the glass.
Sion James and Tylan Pope are a couple of intriguing 6-foot-6 guys.
James can play point forward. He’s strong and skilled with a quick first step. A capable three-point shooter with time and space but what he does best is making plays for others.
Pope is a hard playing, long, athletic wing who likes playing in the corner. A good cutter from the corner, Pope will crash the glass and try to play over you for OREB on the back side. USF must be ready to guard his drive. When he doesn’t have the ball, watch for back cuts.
On offense Tulane has the fasted adjusted tempo in the AAC at 75.5 possessions per game in conference games. The Green Wave gets to the free throw lane at a highest rate (41.0 percent) in the conference.
Defensively Tulane mostly plays a very active 2-3 match-up zone (85.9 percent). Opponents are averaging .846 points per possession against Tulane’s zone. Tulane wants you to throw long passes over the zone. USF needs to look inside as well as look to get the ball to the corner or short corner to flatten out the zone.
KEYS TO A WIN
USF must have strong transition defense Saturday. Tulane is uber aggressive at attacking the rim. Guard the ball. Tulane has the highest scoring offense in the AAC averaging 82.2 ppg on the season. Defend without fouling. Tulane is fifth in the country in free throw percentage shooting 79.9 percent. Ten turnovers or less.
