What To Watch For: South Florida vs. Tulsa
TAMPA, Fla., (Feb. 28, 2023) – South Florida will play its final home game of the regular season when it hosts Tulsa in an American Athletic Conference game.
USF overcame a 15-point second half deficit to defeat SMU 71-67 Wednesday night. It was the Bulls second victory in a row and third in their last four games.
The Golden Hurricane fell to UCF 68-49 on Sunday. Tulsa has lost 10 straight and 17 of its last 18 games. The game at USF marks the regular season finale for Tulsa.
BullsInsider.com has your quick facts and what to watch for against Tulsa:
Quick Facts
Matchup: USF (13-16; 6-10 AAC) vs. Tulsa (5-23; 1-15 AAC)
Date: March 1
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Tampa, Fla. | Yuengling Center
Watch: ESPN+
Radio: 102.5 The Strike HD-2 & Bulls Unlimited (TuneIn)
History: USF is 1-12 all-time versus Tulsa. The Bulls only win in the series was a 96-69 blowout at Tulsa on Feb. 15.
The Opponent: Tulsa returned two starters and welcomed five newcomers for the 2022-23 season. Eric Konkol is in his first season as the head coach at Tulsa.
BullsInsider.com has your quick facts and what to watch for against Tulsa:
Quick Facts
Matchup: USF (13-16; 6-10 AAC) vs. Tulsa (5-23; 1-15 AAC)
Date: March 1
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Tampa, Fla. | Yuengling Center
Watch: ESPN+
Radio: 102.5 The Strike HD-2 & Bulls Unlimited (TuneIn)
History: USF is 1-12 all-time versus Tulsa. The Bulls only win in the series was a 96-69 blowout at Tulsa on Feb. 15.
The Opponent: Tulsa returned two starters and welcomed five newcomers for the 2022-23 season. Eric Konkol is in his first season as the head coach at Tulsa.
When you play Tulsa, Bryant Selebangue better be at the top of the scouting report. The 6-foot-8, 227-pound JuCo transfer (Florida SouthWestern CC) from Montreal, Quebec is averaging 12.1 points and 9.3 rebounds per contest. Selebangue has ten double-doubles this season, including a 21 point, 10 rebound performance against the Bulls.
Selebangue is an undersized center but is skilled and strong. He sets a ton of ball screens and rolls for drop offs. Watch for him to fake a dribble handoff (DHO), he likes to do this going right. He needs angles to score in the post and wants to get to his left shoulder. Selebangue is a very good offensive rebounder – he had five against USF – and very quick to his misses. He must be wedged out on every shot.
Sam Griffin leads Tulsa in scoring and is third in assists. He is an aggressive and dangerous scoring combo guard. In conference games almost 60 percent of his shots are threes and he can get them off the bounce. I love his right jab step, rip left move. Griffin will attack in transition and off the bounce. He knows how to use his body to finish. Use high hand close outs and make him take tough shots.
Junior forward Tim Dalger wasn’t on my radar for the first game and what did he do? He posted 10 points and 9 rebounds. The 6-foot-7, 218-pounder is athletic and plays hard. He will rebound it and go. Dalger uses a shot fake to set up his drives – he prefers to go right. He can knock down threes if he has space, time and his feet are set. A good cutter, he turns his cuts into OREB. He will fly to the glass for rebounds.
Anthony Pritchard has not played since Feb. 1 due to an undisclosed health issue. In his place at point guard is Brandon Betson who is a good shooter with range. Betson is making 41.2 percent of his threes on the season and made 3-of-8 against USF. Betson is very aggressive to score and will shoot behind ball screens or DHO coverage. A shot fake sets up his drive. Keep your chest in front of him, know where he is when he is off the ball. You cannot give Betson open threes.
Freshman wing BB Knight is a shooter, Shooter, SHOOTER with a quick release. Almost 80 percent of his shot attempts are threes.
Expect Tulsa to play with more toughness Wednesday night than they did in the first game when the Bulls had 15 steals.
Offensively, Tulsa is a ball screen continuous team. They use multiple ball screens on every possession. Tulsa plays hard for 40 minutes and will shoot any shot at any time.
Defensively, Tulsa is almost exclusively man (95.7 percent). Opponents are making 45.9 percent of their shots against Tulsa’s man defense.
KEYS TO A WIN
Post defense. Contain Selebangue, don’t let him drive from the high post to the basket. Rebound, defend the three-point line – Tulsa attempts 25 threes per game – guard the ball on defense and share it on offense.