South Florida
Head Coach: Brian Gregory
Location: Tampa, FL
Conference: American
Nickname: Bulls
Mascot: Rocky the Bull
KenPom rank: 130
Previous history: 1-1 thanks to a Home and Home series in the Collier era
Offensive Style: Guards drive the lane / jack 3s
Defensive Style: High pressure guards backed by shot blockers
Line: South Florida by 2
Bracket
Players to watch: Laquincy Rideau and David Collins
The Bulls go as these two guards go. Both offensively are aggressively driving to the paint and exceed at drawing contact. Rideau is the better 3 pointer but both will shoot them. Both are poor FT shooters and average approximately 50% from the line. Both generate high numbers of steals on defense and can disrupt an offense (jokes on them as our half court offense isn't really working anyway) You might remember Rideau from the Gardner Webb team that knocked off Nebraska in 2016.
The Skinny: Nebraska looks to bounce back after a thrashing at the hands of George Mason. Brian Gregory brings back most everyone from last year's 24 win team though arguably their most dynamic post player in Alexis Yetna has been out all year so the Bulls have mostly relied on their guards and defense to win games. South Florida has a lot of height though it's mostly utilized for rim protection/rebounding as opposed to offense. Look for Nebraska to struggle again on the boards though not as much as last game. The Huskers seem to ping-pong like immature teams do so the effort missing from Tuesday probably shows up on Wednesday. Defensively, Nebraska's guards will need to be mindful to guard without fouling which has been a problem for Mack and Green in this tourney. The Huskers are going to struggle against this defense in the half court. They're going to need to turn South Florida turnovers into points and should get plenty of opportunities.
Both teams are poor shooting FT teams. In what very well could be a close game the team who makes the most here might just pull out the win.
Prediction: Nebraska 71 - South Florida 68
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