The South Florida Bulls get Memphis on Thursday night in an American Conference matchup, and both teams come in with momentum. South Florida is trying to shake off a 20-17 road loss to ECU after winning its previous two games, while Memphis arrives on a two-game winning streak with home wins over ECU and Army.
The Tigers’ only stumble in that stretch came at Tulane, where they fell 31-17 as 6.5-point favorites. Even with that loss, Memphis has owned this series lately, taking the last five meetings with South Florida, including a 34-31 win at home last year.
The biggest name on the field is South Florida quarterback Marcus Stokes, who has made the most of his first collegiate action in his junior year. He’s completed 69.1% of his passes for 2,532 yards, which ranks ninth in the country, and he’s thrown 25 touchdown passes, tied for fourth-most nationally.
Stokes has been sharp in recent weeks, too. He passed for 320 yards and three touchdowns against ECU, then followed that up by going 29 of 35 for 371 yards and four touchdowns against Army.
Memphis has had road issues this season, but the Tigers still look like the stronger team here. They’ve shown it in this matchup before, and they also had last week off, so the short turnaround shouldn’t be much of a factor.
South Florida’s lone cover as an underdog this season came in its upset win at Army, and that kind of result feels tough to repeat against Memphis.
In Other News...
Former Memphis Fan Favorite Just Tapped Into A Tigers Debate
Nathaniel Roots return to campus brought a familiar face back into the conversation around Memphis basketball, and he had plenty to say beyond memories of his playing days from 2000 to 2003. The former Tigers guard talked through his career, the lessons he carried from it and how much the college game has changed since he wore the jersey, offering a perspective that still resonates with fans who remember him as part of an earlier era of the program.
Root also weighed in on one of the sports biggest ongoing debates, pointing to NIL and the transfer landscape as factors that have altered player loyalty in ways that would have been hard to imagine when he played. He touched on the influence John Calipari and Penny Hardaway have had on Memphis, and while he made clear he sees progress in the program, his comments left plenty of room for the larger question of where college basketball is headed next. [Read more 🡒]
Memphis Just Exposed A Defensive Problem Penny Hardaway Must Fix
Memphis first loss of the season came with a reminder that the Tigers still have some real work to do on the defensive end. No. 19 Vanderbilt controlled the night in a 105-81 win, beating Memphis on the glass 44-29 and piling up 15 three-pointers in a game that exposed how quickly things can unravel when the Tigers are chasing from behind.
The result was one thing, but the injury scares involving Luke Almodovar and Jayden Reid added another layer of concern. Almodovar briefly lost consciousness before later saying he was all right, and Reid also had to be checked during the game, leaving Penny Hardaway with more than just a lopsided loss to sort through as Memphis moves on from its first setback. [Read more 🡒]
Memphis Has A Response Problem Fans Can't Ignore After Latest Loss
Memphis left Nashville with a loss that was hard to spin, and the margin told the story as much as the final score did. Vanderbilt pulled away for a 105-81 win, getting a big second-half burst from Ace Glass, who scored 23 of his points after the break, while Berke Buyuktuncel added 16 points and eight rebounds and freshman Ant Brown Jr. chipped in off the bench.
For the Tigers, the concern is less about one bad night than the way the game got away from them once the pace tilted. Vanderbilt is now 3-0, and Memphis was left searching for answers after a performance that exposed how quickly things can snowball when the response is not there. [Read more 🡒]