By The South Florida Bulls (23-8) return to the basketball floor Saturday afternoon, where they will take on the Charlotte 49ers (17-16) in the semi-finals of the AAC basketball tournament.
The Bulls enter this game as one of the hottest teams in the country, playing their best basketball of the season and riding a nine-game winning streak.
The last time the Bulls lost a game was on January 31 in Philadelphia, 79-78 to Temple.
This will be the second meeting in less than a week for these two teams, as the Bulls beat Charlotte 90-62 to win the American Conference regular-season title and earn an automatic berth in the Conference semi-finals.
Charlotte punched their ticket to the conference semis by upsetting UAB 83-78 on Friday Afternoon.
The only negative stat going into this game is that the Bulls are 1-3 in neutral-site games this season.
Charlotte has lived by the three-point shot in this tournament. The 49ers have made 26 three-pointers in the two tournament wins.
Last week’s game in Tampa, in which we witnessed the best defensive performance from the Bulls this season from start to finish, USF held Charlotte to 8-for-30 from three-point range.
The Bulls come into the game leading the conference in scoring, rebounding, offensive rebounds, and assists
Led by Defensive Player of the Year Izaiah Nelson, averaging 15.8 PPG and 9.8 rebounds PPG.
The key to a USF win is two-fold.
Guard the three-point line. USF cannot afford to let Charlotte jack up threes all night. It will take a defensive effort just as good, if not better, than the one we witnessed last week to help secure a USF win.
Own the boards.
USF has been an excellent rebounding team all season, and they will need to continue to do that against this scrappy Charlotte team.
Force turnovers.
USF forced 15 Charlotte turnovers, which led to 17 points in their last meeting, and the Bulls will need more of the same to get the win against the 49ers.
The key to a Charlotte win is to control the tempo. They will need to shut down the up- tempo style that USF likes to play and force them to play a deliberate half-court game.
If Charlotte can limit quick transition opportunities for the Bulls, they will at least stand a chance of staying in the game.
The offense starts with G CJ Brown, who leads the conference in assists at 5.0 per game, second in the conference.
USF has the best backcourt in the conference. The duo of Wes Enis and Joe Pinion has been unstoppable this season as the duo each made 100 three-pointers, a program record.
Enis leads the conference in three-point shots made per game at 3.4.
The Bulls were in this position just two years ago, and were upset by UAB in the conference semi-finals
78-56.
The Bulls will be looking for their second conference title in program history. USF won the Sun Belt Conference tournament in 1990.
Coach Bryan Hodgson discussed playing the same team twice so soon.
“We’re going to play a team that we played twice already in our conference. We’re going to really spend time looking at the things we did well against those teams, fix the things that we didn’t do well, and attack that game one possession at a time. That’s how you win in March.”
In almost every category, USF has the advantage, making them the overwhelming favorite in the game.
USF has been installed as a 14.5-point favorite according to DraftKings.
Many sportsbooks have the Bulls as much as a 16-17 point favorite.
I think the inside of Izaiyah Nelson and the perimeter play of Wes Enis, Joe Pinion, and CJ Brown will be too much for Charlotte.
I’m picking the USF to win 80-72.
