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We can't deny the obvious: USF Men's Basketball is not good. Yet somehow they seem to keep competing and playing hard each time out. It's a credit to the character of the kids, and the efforts of their coaching staff.
Nehemias Morillo & Chris Perry being out against UCF basically doomed this team to needing a bit of shooting luck to win, and that didn't come close to happening. But Morillo is gonna go today, so maybe the friendly confines of the Your Name Here If You Have Money Dome and his return can spark something.
Get Factor'd:
Memphis (14-10, 6-5 AAC) is #100 in the RPI and struggling too, but they're still a 6 point favorite on the road for a reason. And that reason is the existence of the three point line. USF is 309th out of 351 schools at shooting 3's (30.0%), and 313th in defending them (37.9%). The combination of "can't shoot" and "can't stop shooters" is a bad one.
By dumb luck, you would hope that USF (7-18, 1-11 AAC) wouldn't have lost 10 in a row, but they've been unable to close out some chances during that run. Where you might blame them for choking or giving it away, it's more amazing they've even had a chance to be in those games in the first place. Tulsa is a single-digit seeded NCAA team, but they pushed the Golden Hurricane to overtime on the road. And at Tulane USF had the ball in a tie game, got the last look, and even got a great play call FTW... the shot just didn't fall.
The record has overshadowed a yeoman season-long performance from Corey Allen Jr., who's been named AAC Player of The Week & to the honor roll multiple times. The senior is averaging 15.5 points, and it be a lot more if someone could help take the pressure off him offensively. He's been part-waterbug/part-microwave all season, and though there's likely a lot of Bulls on this roster that won't be here next season, CAJ is the only one that's guaranteed not to return by virtue of being a senior. We're really gonna miss that dude.
For the Tigers, forward Shaq Goodwin is probably drooling at his offensive prospects today on the block. He'll need to pickup some of the slack as Austin Nichols, who is Memphis's leading scorer at 13.3 points per game on 51% from the floor, is out with a sprained ankle.
Karma owes the Bulls a win at some point. Maybe it'll show the Bulls some love on Valentine's Day.