Men’s Basketball: Terriers Look to Rebound in Tampa Against USF Bulls

By: Matt Doherty

The BU Men’s Basketball team will look to get back to .500 when they travel to the Sun Dome to take on South Florida on Saturday night.

After splitting two difficult homes games to start the season, the Terriers hit the road Thursday night to start off a five-game road trip. Unlike the Albany game on Monday, BU fell to a talented NJIT squad 90-76.

Costly turnovers and rebounding gave BU their first road loss of the season. John Papale (21 points) and Kyle Foreman (17 points, 7 rebounds) were bright spots once again for the Terriers in the loss.

On Saturday, BU will look to put the NJIT loss behind them and get back to winning ways against South Florida. The Bulls have struggled so far to start the season losing home contests to Troy, NJIT, and George Washington. BU will look to be the fourth consecutive mid major team to knock off the AAC member school.

Freshman guard Jahmal McMurray has led the Bulls in scoring in all three contests averaging 17.3 PPG. South Florida is anchored by Chris Perry, along graduate student Angel Nunez, who played at Gonzaga last season, up front.

The Terriers have struggled in the paint so far this season losing the rebounding battle in two of the three games on top of their big men getting into foul trouble. Senior forwards Justin Alston and Nathan Dieudonne have fouled out in both losses. Keeping those two on the floor will be a key to BU’s success against South Florida and down the road this season.

This matchup marks the third of four contests for the Terriers in the Hall of Fame Classic. The last one being on Tuesday night when BU travels to Rupp Arena to take on No. 2 Kentucky.

Tip-off in Tampa is scheduled for 7 PM and can be seen live on ESPN3.