What To Watch For: USF At Memphis
In its final road test of the season, the South Florida men’s basketball team will play at Memphis Thursday at 9 p.m. ET.
USF is coming off a 79-68 loss to Tulane on Saturday, its eighth consecutive loss, the Bulls have not notched a victory since January 25. The bright spot in the loss was freshman David Collins extending his double-digit streak to seven games, finishing with 17 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field.
Memphis, winners of four games in a row, defeated Connecticut 83-79 in the Tigers last outing.
RunningTheBulls.com has your quick facts and what to watch for against Memphis:
Quick Facts
Matchup: USF (8-21, 1-15 AAC) at Memphis (18-11, 9-7 AAC)
Date: Thursday, Mar. 1
Time: 9 p.m.
Location: Memphis, TN | FedEx Forum
Watch: ESPNews (Richard Cross, Tim Welsh)
Radio: AM 820 | GoUSFBulls.com | USF Bulls Unlimited (Jim Lighthall, Neil Solondz)
History: The Bulls are a 4-25 all-time against Memphis and have not beaten the Tigers since February 20, 2016. In their last meeting USF fell to Memphis in Tampa 86-74 on January 31.
The Opponent: Memphis is without Jeremiah Martin for the rest of the season. The junior point guard broke his left foot during the Tigers win over No. 23 Houston last Thursday. At the time of his injury Martin was the conference’s leading scorer averaging 18.9 points per game.
With Martin sidelined the Tigers are relying more on Kyvon Davenport. The 6-foot-8, 210-pounder is a good pick-n-pop four-man whose shooting range must be respected. Davenport, a former JuCo All-American at Georgia Highlands, is aggressive with the ball going to the rim and is good at drawing fouls in the paint. Davenport had a double-double of 18 points and 11 rebounds in 26 minutes of playing time against USF earlier this season.
Mike Parks, Jr. is a big body below the rim center at 6-foot-8, 260-pounds that will be an interesting matchup for USF big men. Parks scores mostly off of OREBs/put backs and receiving passes when he cuts to the basket. His post-up game needs work but, ironically, he is a very good post-up defender. Parks is very competitive and is averaging more points and rebounds per game in conference play than he is overall this season.
Junior Kareem Brewton Jr. has stepped into the starting point guard spot in place of Martin. In Memphis’ past two games Brewton is averaging a very respectable 10 points, six assists and 1.5 steals. At just 20.3 percent, Martin is not the perimeter shooting threat that Martin was but he is excellent in isolation and in the Tigers ball screen offense.
Junior Raynere Thornton scored a career-high 21 points on 4-of-5 shooting (all 3-pointers) and 9 of 9 free throws in the win over Houston. He was named AAC Player of the Week on Monday.
Offensively, Memphis sometimes struggles to get buckets (sounds like a team you know). The Tigers are not a good jump shooting team, making just 32.4 percent of their spot ups. The Tigers do drive the ball hard to the basket and will run some action off of a Horns set. Memphis is below average against zone defenses, shooting just 39.3 percent against zone defenses and scoring only .822 points per possession versus zone. USF could throw some zone at Memphis after timeouts and off of made baskets from time to time to give them a different look.
Defensively Memphis plays mostly man-to-man (84 percent) in what Tubby Smith calls a ball-line defense. The philosophy is based on ball pressure, contesting shooters, denying interior passes and retreating parallel to the ball, or the "ball-line," in order to help stop drives to the basket. The Tigers are willing to play zone and use it early – they started the game at UConn in a 2-3 zone.
Outlook: The Bulls need to keep the Tigers off the offensive glass, keep them out of transition, cut off dribble penetration and do it without fouling, Memphis is No. 5 in the nation at getting to the free throw line. The Bulls will see a different Memphis team without Martin. The Tigers are more balanced offensively, they share and move the ball better.
Prediction: USF 60 Memphis 74