The South Florida men's basketball team is one of 14 teams still playing in a postseason tournament and will begin the College Basketball Invitational Championship best-of-three series Monday night against DePaul in Yuengling Center.
To reach the championship round the Bulls won three consecutive games, including an overtime win against Stony Brook (82-79), plus victories over Utah Valley (66-57) and Loyola Marymount (56-47).
RunningTheBulls.com has your quick facts and what to watch for against Utah Valley:
Quick Facts
Matchup: USF (22-13) vs. DePaul (18-15)
Date: Monday April 1
Time: 7 p.m. EST
Location: Tampa, Fla. | Yuengling Center
Watch: ESPNU (Roy Philpott, Tim McCormick)
Radio: AM 820 | USF Bulls Unlimited (Jim Lighthall, Joey Johnston)
History: This is the 28th meeting between USF and DePaul, but the first since March 2013. The two programs were conference foes in both Conference USA and the Big East. USF has a 12-15 record against DePaul.
The Opponent: DePaul is a physical and experienced Big East team that is hard to guard up front.
Senior small forward Max Strus (20 ppg), a second team All-Big East performer, is a borderline NBA talent and is more athletic than his 6-foot-6, 215 pound frame looks. Strus has deep range on his jump shot and is not shy about putting it on display, particularly on the right wing. His 281 three-point attempts this season – he connected on 37.4 percent – represent just under half of ALL of DePaul’s three-point attempts this season. Strus can almost single handily beat you. When DePaul beat Georgetown by 32, Strus had 30 points and was 8-of-15 from the perimeter.
Eli Cain (13.2 ppg), is a big shooting guard at 6-foot-6, 200 pounds. The senior is long, athletic and tough. He is more slasher than shooter but Cain has attempted the second most threes on his team (161), more than any USF player, and has made 35.4 percent of them.
Femi Olujobi (12.8 ppg) mans the post for DePaul. The 6-foot9, 258-pounder is excellent in transition, or as a roll man after setting a ball screen, and at scoring on put backs when he gets an offensive rebound. He can really score on the low blocks on post ups and USF must respect his midrange face-up game.
Sophomore Paul Reed (12.1 ppg) earned the Big East Most Improved Player award this season. Reed led DePaul in rebounding with 8.2 boards per game. He is long, skilled, and athletic and plays with a chip on his shoulder. RunningTheBulls.com is quite familiar with Reed from his days at Wekiva High School. As a senior Reed was named Central Florida Player of the Year by the Orlando Sentinel.
Devin Gage, is the Blue Demons’ point guard but he is not a true point. The sophomore is a good one or two dribble pull up guy but he is not very savvy with the ball in his hands. USF needs to make him try to beat them on the perimeter where he makes less than 25 percent of his attempts.
Keep an eye on Jaylen Butz. DePaul uses the sophomore at the four and the five spot. The 6-foot-9, 224-pounder is tough and a relentless offensive rebounder. Butz is an energy bringer who does his scoring inside the arc – mainly within seven feet of the rim – and is an efficient scorer.
Offensively DePaul runs good stuff and are very dangerous after timeouts. In the games we scouted, we saw quite a bit of roll and replace plays with high ball screens. DePaul uses lots of dribble hand-off actions and we noticed that they like to throw it inside to Reed.
Defensively DePaul plays almost exclusively man (94.3 percent) but has struggled, in its last five games, defending transition, ball screen roll men and ball handlers. When they are in zone we saw some 2-3 with match up principles, 1-3-1 and 1-2-2.
Prediction
USF 74 DePaul 72
DePaul is a good rebounding team so USF must win the battle on the glass, limit turnovers and they MUST locate Strus and close out on him with a high hand. We think USF can press DePaul, turn them over and get quick buckets and, while good post defenders of late, we think DePaul can be exploited in the post.
