The Shockers opened up as 2 point underdogs against the Bulls.
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Wichita State @ South Florida Pre-Game Thread
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Quotables: Marshall Previews USF
...Tuesday night's opponent, USF:
"Much-improved team. Coach Gregory and his staff have done a great job of getting transfers and freshmen and are probably the most-improved team in our league."
...USF's style:
"Man-to-man (defense). They get fouled a lot. They've gone to the line about 180-something times in six games. By contrast, we've gone, I think 80 times in five games. So a huge discrepancy. They're obviously getting fouled more than normal, so they're being aggressive and driving it. They're good in transition. The kid, Rideau, is a tremendous competitor and a great player. Collins scores it, and they've got a handful of big guys. So a pretty good team and their record is indicative of that."
Otherwise he mostly talks about Jamarius.
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https://goshockers.com/news/2019/1/2...-to-tampa.aspx
SCOUTING USF:
***Former Dayton and Georgia Tech coach Brian Gregory is in his second season at USF. The Bulls have already exceeded their 2017-18 win total (10-22) by two games with 13 regular season contests still to play.
***USF had 10 newcomers in its first season under Gregory, including a trio of graduate transfers who handled the bulk of the scoring. This year's roster has 12 more new faces
***USF leads league in rebounding margin (+7.4). Redshirt freshman forward Alexis Yetna plays a big part in the stat. He's averaging a double-double at 12.7 points and a conference-leading 10.2 rebounds-per-game (also 14th nationally). Yetna has posted double-double stat lines in nine of USF's 18 games this year.
***USF has one of the nation's best defensive duos in Laquincy Rideau and David Collins. Rideau ranks second nationally at 3.3 steals-per-game. Collins is 13th on the list at 2.6-per-game.
***Rideau's 5.6 assist-per-game is a conference-best and ranks among the top-40 in Division I. The 6-1 junior sat out last year after transferring from Gardner-Webb where he was a second team All-Big South performer.
***Earlier this month, Rideau recorded the rare "point-assist-steal" triple-double in an overtime game at Temple. He finished with 18 points, 10 assists and a conference record 10 steals in 37 minutes.
***Collins – one of the lone holdovers from last year – is the team's leading scorer at 14.8 points per game. Much of that damage has come at the foul line, where he ranks 29th nationally in attempts (128).
MATCHUP MASHUP:
***WSU senior Samajae Haynes-Jones was teammates with USF's 7-foot-2 senior center Nikola Scekic as Hutchinson (Kan.) CC. The pair helped the Blue Dragons to the 2017 NJCAA National Championship.
***There won't be many familiar faces on either bench. Second-year head coach Brian Gregory has 12 newcomers on this year's roster. WSU went through a large-scale shakeup of its own.
***USF sophomore Justin Brown is the only starter back from last year's Jan. 7 box score. He finished with eight points and five rebounds in 33 minutes. David Collins added 12 points in 22 minutes off the bench. Scekic hit a pair of threes on his way to seven points in 17 minutes.
***Three Shockers saw action – Markis McDuffie was 4-of-5 from three in a 12-point, six-rebound performance. Asbjorn Midtgaard supplied two points and two boards in eight minutes. Haynes-Jones had his most-productive conference outing of the year, finishing with eight points and two assists in 16 minutes.
***Ball-hawking defense have been a common theme on the Shockers' schedule. For the fourth time they'll face a team that ranks among the top-25 in steals. Memphis (8.8, 16th) and Temple (9.2, 12th) finished with a dozen steals apiece against WSU earlier this month. Jacksonville State (8.5, 25th) managed seven.
***USF entered he week at No. 11, averaging a league-best 9.3 steals-per-game. In its tempo-free ratings, KenPom lists the Bulls at No. 7 in steal percentage.
***WSU has led its conference in rebounding margin in every season under Gregg Marshall. The last two Shocker teams have finished No. 2 nationally in that category. The streak might be on its last legs. WSU's +2.2 margin is its worst of the Marshall Era and seventh out of the 12 American teams. The Shockers are +0.2 in conference play.
***USF is a league-best +7.4 on the boards this year.
***No American Athletic Conference team has made (239) or attempted (527) more free throws than USF.
***No American team had made (207) or attempted (295) fewer free throws than WSU. The Shockers have attempted more than their opponent just three times.
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Cincinnati beat USF by 23 points on their home court and only beat us by 10, including the Technical fiasco.
But we don't play defense or offense like Cincinnati, yet, and the Refs always seem to hate our guts for some reason, even though we are clearly the good guys.
And our road record is not very positive either.
Still, all things considered - In a close match-up, gotta go with us by 2.
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I've watched USF a couple times. They play like a bunch of bowling balls rolling downhill. Expect grabbing, pushing, flopping and anything else to muck up the game. They will certainly test our composure. Rideau will be in the middle of everything.
I'll add that in their game with UH the other night there were 62 fouls called.Last edited by wusphlash; January 21, 2019, 05:54 PM.Where oh where is our T. Boone Pickens.
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There was a time (and I hope it has returned) when the Shocks would have an enormous chip on their shoulder after a fiasco like Saturday. Time to take some attitude into the game and play with abandon. And wondering who the refs will be...almost guaranteed we won’t see that team of refs for awhile.
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