Oracle insight: USF against top-five competition
The USF men’s basketball program has never defeated a team ranked in the top five in the country. Of course, this year’s surging Bulls have a penchant for rewriting school history.
Three days after completing a sweep of Pittsburgh – ensuring their first-ever winning record in Big East play and tying a school-record winning streak – the Bulls could break another record by beating No. 2 Syracuse in New York tonight.
Tonight’s game will be the seventh time since joining the Big East in 2005 that the Bulls match up with the nation’s elite. This game features the Big East’s top scoring offense, Syracuse’s 76.8 points per game, against the league’s best scoring defense, with USF allowing 58.2 points per game.
The biggest key for the Bulls will be controlling the pace of the game with point guard Anthony Collins slowing things down. With a notably athletic roster, Syracuse will hope to run the floor at every opportunity and score fast break points.
As USF has a chance to notch a historic win, The Oracle takes a look back at how the Bulls fared against elite competition last season.
Dec. 31, 2010
No. 4 Connecticut 66,
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