USF Men’s Basketball Set To Open Five-Game Homestand Monday

The USF men’s basketball team returns to action this week, opening a five-game home stretch on Monday night against Florida International. It’s the Bulls first home game since November 26.

USF (4-5) returns to the Sun Dome on the heels of a winless North Carolina road trip eight days ago. The Bulls lost an overtime game at Elon and suffered a 23-point loss at Appalachian State.

The Bulls, as expected, are relying heavily on a roster full of graduate transfers. Payton Banks, Stephan Jiggetts and Terrence Samuel have all shown promise at some point this season.

Banks leads the team in scoring (13.4 points per game) and three-pointers (2.3 per game) while averaging 4.2 rebounds. The Penn State transfer had his biggest night as a Bull with a 23-point performance in the overtime loss at Elon on November 30.

Jiggetts has shown flashes at point guard, averaging 12.1 points, 2.9 assists and 2.3 rebounds per game.

Samuel, who previously played at UConn and Penn State, is averaging 8.0 points per game and leads the team in assists with 4.3 per game.

First up on the five-game homestand, FIU. The Bulls are 12-2 all-time against the Panthers and 8-0 at home. Surprisingly, Monday night will mark the first meeting between the schools since 2007.

Thursday night, MEAC foe, Bethune-Cookman comes to town and then Northern Arizona the following Monday. The Bulls will finish up the non-conference slate on Thursday against Charlotte.

Following the Christmas break, USF will finish off the homestand by opening up American Athletic Conference play against Houston on Thursday, December 28th.

All games are scheduled to tipoff at 7 p.m.