A big-time win over the Florida Atlantic Owls is enough to put the country on notice about the South Florida Bulls. Last Saturday, Tampa Bay’s college basketball team knocked off a ranked Owls team loaded with talent. USF’s 11th straight win moves them to 12-1 overall in American Athletic Conference play.
South Florida now sits at 19-5 overall and ESPN analyst Joe Lunardi has them in the NCAA tournament as a 13th seed in the East region. If all holds on as it is according to Lunardi’s predictions, it would be the first time the Bulls have made it to March Madness in 12 years and only the program’s fourth appearance ever in the big dance.
A big key to USF’s big success has been the first-year head coach Amir Abdur-Rahim. He came to Tampa after a historic season at Kennesaw State leading the Owls to their first-ever NCAA tournament appearance after a 26-9 season that saw his team also win the Atlantic Sun regular season and tournament championship.
Abdur Rahim had lots of praise after arguably the biggest win the Bulls have had all season against FAU.
“That crowd [USF fans] today was incredible…that thing [the Yuengling Center] was sold out up until the third level…this is not the same old South Florida, it’s not.”
Abdur-Rahim seems to be onto something, it does not feel like the same brand of South Florida basketball the country has been used to. USF sits at the top of the American Athletic Conference.
A big-time player who has stepped up on the Bulls during this stretch of play is Chris Youngblood. He transferred into the South Florida program from Kennesaw State to play under Abdur Rahim again. He leads the Bulls in points per game at 15 and is shooting 43% from the field and a career-best 43% from three-point range. In the statement win USF had over Florida Atlantic, Youngblood finished with 23 points and hit all three of his three-point attempts.
.@Youngbloo2Chris from DEEP🔥🔥🔥
📺: https://t.co/z7YWuGITMz#HornsUp🤘| #EDGE pic.twitter.com/oMinBOhTuk
— USF Men's Basketball (@USFMBB) February 18, 2024
Youngblood is not the only threat South Florida has to score the basketball. Selton Miguel is having the best season of his college basketball career averaging 14.8 points per game. He is shooting a 42% mark from both the field and three-point range.
Miguel had a career-best game against FAU on Saturday. He scored 25 points on 56% shooting from the field and 62.5% from three.
The Bulls get a lot of scoring volume from the three-point shooting of their two main playmakers.
USF has had big wins prior with both Youngblood and Miguel filling up the stat sheet. In a 74-73 win over then-10th-ranked Memphis, the two scorers shot 50%+ during a tough road win that was the second of now 11 in a row for the Bulls.
Kasean Pryor is a tall forward who has helped the Bulls rebound all season as well. He has averaged 7.2 rebounds a game and during this historic win streak, he has been in double figures for 7 out of the 11 games on this run. Pryor went on a big scoring tear in January having four straight 20+ point games to begin the South Florida win streak.
This USF team seems in tune and humming on the offensive end with the team scoring 70+ points in 8 out of the last 10 games. The Bulls have been winning by a margin of +6.7 points, the third-best mark in the AAC.
Although players like Youngblood, Miguel, and Pryor won’t necessarily get big national attention, they do what needs to be done to get wins and South Florida has been doing that as they ride the longest win streak in program history.
The Bulls have a chance to make more history as they can win their first conference title since 1990 when they won the Sun Belt tournament.
Before that, there are five more regular-season games that need to be played. South Florida goes on the road Wednesday to play in San Antonio to play the UTSA Roadrunners who are 2-11 in AAC play this season sitting at the bottom of the conference. Tip-off for the game will be at 8:00 p.m. E.T. with the game on ESPN+.
