What To Watch For: USF At Tulane
South Florida returns to action tonight for the first time in five days when they take on Tulane in the first of two road games this week. Following their game in the Big Easy, the Bulls will head west to Houston to face the Cougars on Sunday afternoon.
USF is looking to build off of their 71-69 loss to UCF on Saturday, a game they led for 29 minutes but could not close out.
RunningTheBulls.com has your quick facts and what to watch for against Tulane:
Quick Facts
Matchup: USF (7-13, 0-7 AAC) at Tulane (12-7, 3-4 AAC)
Date: Thursday, Jan. 25
Time: 9 p.m. EST
Location: New Orleans, La. | Devlin Fieldhouse
TV: ESPNU (Jason Benetti, Malcom Huckaby)
Radio: AM 820 | USF Bulls Unlimited (Jim Lighthall, Joey Johnston)
History: This will be the 34th all-time meeting between the two programs, going back to 1992. Tulane leads the series 20-13 including a two game sweep of the Bulls last season and has won five of the last six matchups. The Green Wave hold an 11-5 lead in the series in New Orleans.
The Opponent: Tulane returns nine players, including three starters, and has really improved in Mike Dunleavy’s second season. The Green Wave have already doubled their wins total from last season, simply put, Dunleavy is doing a good job with that program.
Melvin Frazier (17.5 PPG) and Cameron Reynolds (16.1 PPG) rank as the No. 1 scoring duo in the American Athletic Conference this season. Frazier is an elite athlete with long arms which help him on defense. He is the conference leader in total steals (46), steals per game (2.4), and has at least three heists in nine contests this season. Frazier is a much-improved shooter and has developed into a prime scoring threat in one season. In fact, he could be the most improved player in the conference this season. His length also allows him to be an effective scorer in traffic. Reynolds is a lefty sharp shooter who has connected on 40.4 percent of his three-point attempts this season. The 6-foot-8, 225-pound Reynolds is Tulane’s leading rebounder (6.3 rpg) to go along with his scoring.
Tulane’s third returning starter is Ray Ona Embo and like Frazier, he has improved on the offensive side of the floor. Last season Ona Embo only made 25 percent of his perimeter jumpers, however, this season he is knocking them down at a 42 percent clip. When he plays well, typically Tulane plays well.
Jordan Cornish is a versatile player who, at 6-foot-6, 220-pounds, Tulane can put on the block but he can also knock down the occasional three-pointer (he was 4-of-8 vs Memphis). He uses ball fakes effectively from the corner to get to the rim or into the midrange for a pull up if help arrives.
A newcomer to watch for is Vanderbilt transfer big man Samir Sehic. At 6-foot-9, 240-pounds, Sehic is a stretch-four with a nice stroke. If he is given space and gets his feet set Sehic can knock down shots beyond the arc.
Tulane makes a living on transition baskets. Tulane has the most efficient transition offense in the AAC, and 12th most efficient in the nation, at 1.217 points per possession. They have explosive athletic players and want to push the ball and get quick scores. USF must sprint back on defense because Tulane will really push the pace and they have several guys who can finish at the rim. In the half court, Tulane spaces the floor well and get good ball movement on the perimeter in their four-out offense. They will use high-low action out of this set and try to get an ISO down low.
Defensively Tulane is in man 98.1 percent of the time. We noticed them use a basic 2-3 zone early in their game against Houston and it did change the game. Typically they only use zone early against long athletic teams like Houston and FSU. We did see them use zone in the second half of games that they were trailing big in.
The Green Wave’s pressure defense has been used less than four percent of the time this season. As you might have guessed, they apply full court pressure mainly late in games when they are behind. They attempt to trap off of the first pass.
Outlook: Transition defense, rebounding, limiting turnovers and limiting scoring droughts are keys for USF to win this game. The common denominator in Tulane’s conference losses is rebounding, the Green Wave lost the rebound battle in each loss. The Green Wave will drive it hard and attack you off the bounce so it's important to keep Tulane players in front of you. If USF has to rely on help defense too much that will open up things for Tulane's three point shooters or dump offs in the paint.
Prediction: Tulane 77 USF 60