Saturday, December 16, 2023 3:00 p.m.
Yuengling Center, Tampa, Fla.

Loyola is headed to Tampa for a Saturday afternoon matchup with South Florida. It's the third meeting all-time between the two teams, with USF holding a 2-0 advantage over the Ramblers. With Loyola sitting at 127 in KenPom and South Florida at 153, this game is a very good road test for the team.

USF Head Coach Amir Abdur-Rahim is in his first year at South Florida after four years at Kennesaw State, which culminated in an NCAA appearance. The Bulls are 4-4 on the season with some head-scratching losses (at home to Central Michigan and Maine), but they've played their best basketball in the last two games and seem to have perfected their playing rotations.

Kasean Pryor is the son of a former Chicago State assistant coach, Sean Pryor, and grew up in Hyde Park. After playing only 52 total minutes at Boise State in his first two years, the 6'10" power forward spent a year at a juco and signed on at South Florida for this, his junior year. Pryor played his way into the starting lineup for the Bulls' upset win over Florida State, and his play in their Tuesday win over UAPB makes his place there seem solid. Pryor can surprise opposing players with his mobility and speed, the ability to drive and finish at the basket, and sometimes hitting a once-in-a-blue moon three like he did against Florida State. He's played one more minute in his two recent starts than in his full two years at Boise State, averaging 14.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, two assists and two steals. He's shooting 88.5% from the free throw line on the season, and he's really shored up the USF interior defense.

Joining Pryor in the starting lineup is 6'4" senior guard Chris Youngblood, 6'5" sophomore guard Kobe Knox, 6'1" senior point guard Jose Placer, and 6'6" junior forward Sam Hines. Youngblood was the leading scorer for Abdur-Rahim’s Kennesaw State team last year and averages 12.8 ppg with USF. Knox is a Tampa native who transferred back home from Grand Canyon; he averages 8.0 ppg. Placer missed the last game against UAPB, but he averages 8.6 ppg as a scoring point guard. Hines averages 7.1 points and 4.0 rebounds per game.

USF ranks high in bench points, with leading scorer Selton Miguel (a 6'4" senior guard who played his first two years at K-State) coming off the bench averaging 13.8 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 2.1 assists. Freshman backup point guard Jayden Reid stands only 5'10", but averages 8.0 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game. Six-six senior forward Brandon Stroud (another Kennesaw State transfer) averages 4.3 points, and 6'8" junior forward Corey Walker averages 4.1.

USF's defense is primarily man-to-man, with energetic pressure. Youngblood and Hines (plus Stroud off the bench) are stocky and strong for their size, and use their bodies to intimidate guards, especially by pressuring passers out in the middle third of the court. It’s similar to defense we’ve seen from FAU and Tulsa (also AAC teams), and has the effect of causing turnovers and speeding up play.

Offensively, USF likes to play at a very quick pace. They usually hurry the ball across the timeline and take a shot fairly quickly in the clock. The Bulls average 16.0 seconds per possession on offense, which is 57th quickest in D-1. USF attacks the basket and gets to the free throw line a lot, averaging 17.9 made free throws per game-- 28th best in Division I. Prior to the last two games USF was one of the worst three-point shooting teams in all of Division I, averaging only 24.2% as a team through their first six games. But in their last two games, the Bulls are 22 for 50 on threes (44%). USF’s offense looks good when they're playing run and gun, but they've sometimes shown vulnerability against the zone, and look out of sync against a press. Surprise full-court or half-court presses and deliberate, full clock possessions can be used to keep USF out of rhythm and their preferred tempo.

In USF's four wins, they average 90.5 points per game. In their four losses, they average 60.25-- that's a huge disparity, and it holds true both home and away games, against good teams and bad. A big component of the points scored number is how well they're shooting threes from game to game, which has been another issue for the Ramblers—Loyola is 330th in opponent’s three-point shooting percentage (36.8%). If not for the good job defending threes against Boston College and Harvard, the Ramblers might be near the worst in the country at three-point defense.

UMass beat South Florida 66-56 in Amherst by controlling tempo and dominating play in the paint; Marc Cohen had 21 points for the Minutemen. Maine beat USF by holding them to 59 points in their own arena. The Ramblers need to take a page out of their Boston College and Harvard wins, vary the defensive looks, and make USF work hard on both sides of the court. USF expends a lot of energy on defense-- if they have to do the same on offense, it's going to show, as it did against UMass.

Loyola has four games in the next 3 ½ weeks that will be defining challenges for this team: Saturday at South Florida, Jan. 3 at Saint Louis, Jan. 6 hosting Duquesne, and Jan. 9 vs. Richmond. A nice road win at South Florida would be a great start.

Loyola Game Notes: https://loyolaramblers.com/documents/20 ... lorida.pdf

South Florida Game Notes: https://gousfbulls.com/news/2023/12/15/ ... wdown.aspx

TV/Streaming Video: ESPN + https://www.espn.com/watch/player/_/id/ ... d6481f3282

Radio/Streaming Audio: Rambler Sports Network https://loyolaramblers.com/watch/?Live=161&type=Live

Live Stats: https://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=497807

Vegas Odds: USF by 1

nice review...would be a confidence builder...and then spend a day on the beach.

Other than Harvard this season, this is the kind of game that has turned into big Rambler losses. We have struggled to compete with teams that are similarly ranked. One of the main reasons, in my opinion, is our propensity to foul and then foul some more. Against a high paced and athletic team like this, we could easily get killed by free throws.

Drew prides himself as a defensive coach, this is a good test and benchmark for the 23/24 Ramblers.

Again, with the fouls.... can't do that against this team, that should be obvious. On offense, missed three shots that should have gone down.

My God. The Watson missed layup/dunk that would have made it a 10 pt game. And now it's a 2 pt game. Absolutely inexcusable at this level.

Miles is an absolute animal blocking shots. So much fun to watch. Needs to learn how to set clean picks though!

We are not good.

We ******* STINK.

Offense is tough to watch. Not a lot to feel good about this year. Hopefully we can have more bad days than good during conference play and see some improvement. Those 8th preseason predictions seem to ambitious.

Valentine securely on the hot seat after this?