What To Watch For: USF vs. Florida College
The South Florida men’s basketball team returns to the court today in a non-conference when the Bulls host Florida College. The game takes the place of USF’s previously scheduled December game at Charlotte that was cancelled due to a winter storm.
Florida College, a NAIA program, has lost three straight and four of its last five games. USF has won five of its last seven, but is coming off two loses in a row, and dropped an overtime heartbreaker to Temple on Saturday.
A win would be the Bulls 15th in Yuengling Center this season. USF has not won 15 games in Yuengling Center since winning the 1982-83 season.
RunningTheBulls.com has your quick facts and what to watch for against Temple:
Quick Facts
Matchup: USF (17-8, 7-6 AAC) vs. Florida College (12-16)
Date: Tuesday, Feb. 19
Time: 4 p.m.
Location: Tampa, Fla. | Yuengling Center
Watch: N/A
Radio: USF Bulls Unlimited (Jim Lighthall)
History: This will be the first meeting between Florida College and USF, despite the schools being separated by less than four miles.
The Opponent: Florida College is a veteran team who scores mainly on spot up jumpers, in transitions or in the post. They run a four-out-one in motion offense with very few set plays, very few ball screens and attempt an average of 31 three-pointers per game. In fact, in scouting Florida College, we flashed back to the game against The Citadel. In case you forgot, The Citadel was 16-of-36 on three-point attempts in Yuengling Center – setting a new record for most made three-pointers in the building.
Of the 16 players on the Falcons’ roster, only two players have not attempted a three-pointer this season and four players connect on better than 34 percent of their attempts beyond the arc.
Junior wing Stefan Nakic-Vojnovic is a hand down-man down jump shooter. He is hitting 45.7 percent of his perimeter shots, leads the team in scoring (14 ppg) and rebounding (6.3 rgp) and is third in assists. Senior guard Jacob Roark averages 13.4 points per game scoring mainly on perimeter jumpers and free throws. Roark has attempted 222 three-pointers. Small forward Justin Brown leads USF in three-point attempts with 111. Junior wing Kent Hegarty averages 12.2 points and five rebounds per game. Hegarty has made 34.6 percent of his 182 three-point attempts. Matt Simpson, a Plant City High School graduate, is having a nice freshman season averaging 11.9 points and connecting on 41 percent of his perimeter shots. Junior forward Andrew Voss (11.1 ppg) also score in double figures for FC.
Junior center Bryce Nickels, a 7-footer from Tampa (Steinbrenner HS), and senior center Theo Desrivieres, a 6-foot-11 big body big man, provide size for FC but neither play much. Nickels, a good post-up man but below average offensive rebounder/put-back scorer, averages just 11 minutes per game. Desrivieres is almost invisible at four minutes per game.
Florida College is prone to turnovers, averaging 16.7 per game against NAIA competition. When opponents press the Falcons they turn it over at a 26.7 percent rate.
Defensively Florida College plays man 87% of the time, but due to USF’s size advantage we expect to see more zone from FC than what we saw in scout video. We saw FC use a 1-2-2 zone and some 2-3 zone. They will almost always use a 2-3 zone to defend baseline out of bounds plays
Prediction
USF 82 Florida College 51
This game will probably be a back-and-forth contest early but we expect USF to have at least a 10 point lead at the half and build on it steadily in the second half. USF needs to own the glass – we think 50 rebounds is a possibility – defend the three-point line and score in the paint. We expect most of the starters to see limited action, especially David Collins and Laquincy Rideau who are banged up a bit.