USF Men’s and Women’s Basketball December Tournaments Preview

After a double header victory on Sunday that saw USF men’s basketball dismantle Drexel and women’s basketball coming in clutch against Idaho, both teams will travel for a December tournament that will hopefully bring some résumé boosting wins for both programs.

Men’s Basketball vs Utah State in The Battleground 2K19

The USF men’s basketball team will travel to Houston where they face Utah State on December 18th at 7:45 pm ET. The Aggies are 10-2 this season and were receiving national attention early on in the season. They were ranked as high as No. 17 before stumbling to Saint Mary’s and then suffering a tough loss to in-state rival BYU.

Battleground 2K19 will feature six teams and three games, with other matchups featuring No. 17 Baylor against UT Martin, and Oregon State against UTSA. The event is put on to work in partnership for Athletes Against Abuse, a children’s rights campaign created to bring awareness to child abuse in the country.

The Bulls have won three in a row and are looking for consistency this season on both ends of the court. Their victory over Drexel saw the Bulls put on a complete performance, forcing 19 turnovers and scoring 40 points in the paint as a team.

This game will be televised on ESPN3.

Women’s Basketball vs Mississippi State in The Duel in the Desert

Jose Fernandez and company will be traveling to Las Vegas to take on No. 15 Mississippi State in The Duel in the Desert on December 19th at 7 p.m. The Bulldogs are 9-2 this year but have lost two of their last three games coming into this contest. The winner of the game between the Bulls and the Bulldogs will take on the winner of the other game of this tournament between Virginia and UNLV.

Virginia is currently sitting at 4-5 on the year, with a tough non-conference slate already including ranked foes UConn, Kentucky, and UCLA. Meanwhile, UNLV is at 3-7 with tough outings against USC, Duke, and Fresno State.

With one victory over a top 25 team already this season, USF will look to continue the momentum forward despite injuries to key players. True freshman Maria Alvarez came up clutch at the end of the game against Idaho, hitting two three pointers at the end of the game to give USF the lead in a game they trailed for 37 minutes.

This game will be televised on FloHoops.

Men’s Basketball vs Florida State in The Orange Bowl Classic

Continuing forward, USF will return to the sunshine state and travel to Sunrise, FL to battle against Florida State in the Orange Bowl Basketball Classic on Saturday, December 21st at noon. Strangely enough, Utah State is participating in this as well, while they take on Florida later in the day.

Florida State is coming off of a program-record 29 wins last season and are 8-2 (potentially 9-2 with a game a few days prior) this season. Their two losses this year have been to Pitt at the beginning of the season, and then to no. 17 Indiana during the ACC-Big Ten classic. In a grueling conference, FSU has found their groove recently and was tabbed to finish 5th in the conference this year.

This game will be televised on FS2.