What to watch for: USF vs. Dartmouth
USF continues its three-game home stand when it hosts Dartmouth Friday night.
Monday night the Bulls used a balanced scoring attack, led by Xavier Castaneda who scored a career-high 18 points and made a career high four 3-pointers, to defeat Furman 65-55. Castaneda was one of four Bulls to score in double-digits.
Dartmouth fell to Georgia State in overtime Tuesday in Atlanta 83-80. It was the Big Green’s second loss in a row.
RunningTheBulls.com has your quick facts and what to watch for against Dartmouth:
Quick Facts
Matchup: Dartmouth (5-3) at USF (4-4)
Date: Monday, Dec. 2
Time: 8 p.m. ET
Location: Tampa, Fla. | Yuengling Center
Watch: ESPN3
Radio: Bulls Unlimited
History: USF is 1-0 all-time against Dartmouth. The only meeting between the two programs was a 90-54 Bulls victory in Tampa on December 28, 1984.
The Opponent: Dartmouth returns three starters and ten players overall from last season’s team that went 11-19.
Dartmouth does not have much size and runs a version of the Princeton offense – which is ironic when you think about it – and they are very good at it. The Big Green have a good but undersized 6-foot-7, 225 pounds post player in Chris Knight and he is surrounded by good shooters.
Knight is arguably Dartmouth’s most important player. He leads the Big Green in scoring (12.9 ppg), assists (2.4 apg), blocks (1.6 bpg) and is second in rebounds (6.1 rpg). Dartmouth runs its offense through Knight. He is also able to put the ball on the floor to get to where he wants to go. He's capable over both shoulders and will turn to the middle from both blocks. Knight will set a ton of screens.
Junior power forward Aaryn Rai is an aggressive player who wants threes. He drives it well going either way but likes to drive left and spin back to his right. Senior shooting guard James Foye is a lefty with a quick release. He’ll sprint and spot up in transition for threes, of which he’s making 48.8 percent of his attempts. Foye is a capable straight line driver going left. He does not like ball pressure. Taurus Samuel is a crafty, shooting point guard who looks to push it in transition. He usually attacks off of ball screens but, will reject them occasionally, and is a catch-and-shoot guy who is making 40 percent beyond the arc. Ian Sistare is a good rebounder who plays hard. He is another catch-and-shoot guy but is only making 27 percent of his perimeter jumpers. Last season he made 45 percent of them. He moves well and will drive on bad closeouts.
Keep an eye on combo guard Trevon Ary-Turner coming off the bench. Another lefty, Ary-Turner has deep range. When he drives it he is looking to go left. Ary-Turner cuts and moves well away from the ball. He will see some minutes at point guard.
Defensively Dartmouth is almost exclusively man (98.5%) but they played a 3-2 zone against Bowling Green and Jacksonville so USF has to be ready for this as well as being prepared to see some 1-2-2 zone press and a three-quarter court press/trap.
Prediction
USF 63 Dartmouth 56
To win the Bulls must have good transition defense and not give up easy points. USF needs to limit its turnovers, defend the arc – Dartmouth makes an average of nine threes per game – own the paint and embrace the physicality of the game. Rebound with all five. Dartmouth takes 25 threes per game so there will be plenty of long rebounds. The Bulls are bigger, faster and stronger than Dartmouth so play with physical toughness.