Scouting South Florida

NC State faces South Florida in the second round of the 2021 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament Tuesday at 3:00 p.m. on ESPN2.

The Wolfpack, the No. 1 seed of the Mercado Region, defeated 16th-seeded North Carolina A&T 79-58 in the first round Sunday. The Bulls, the No. 8 seed, defeated ninth-seeded Washington State 57-53 in the first round.

Here is the scouting report on the South Florida Bulls of the American Athletic Conference:

South Florida won the American Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament to clinch the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Don't let the No. 8 seed fool you, this Bulls team is among one of the nation's best and had a resume that likely warranted a higher seed.

South Florida entered the tournament ranked No. 19 in the Associated Press poll (NC State is No. 3 with two votes for No. 1).

The Bulls also finished No. 18 in the USA Today/Women's Basketball Coaches Association Poll (NC State No. 3) and No. 25 in the NET rankings (Wolfpack No. 7).

South Florida finished the regular season 19-3 overall and 12-2 in the AAC.

Its lone non-conference loss came at the expense of then-ranked No. 4 and eventual No. 2 seed Baylor in a 67-62 home defeat in early December. The next game, the Bulls defeated then-ranked No. 6 Mississippi State 67-63 in overtime. The Bulldogs ultimately missed the tournament with a 10-9 overall record.

Both of South Florida's conference losses came in the last three games of the regular season, each at the expense of the No. 2 (UCF) and No. 3 (Houston) teams in the AAC on the road.

South Florida is not a strong shooting team, and NC State should be able to cruise if it can knock down its attempts at a high clip. The Bulls will want to make it a physical, low-scoring contest considering their strength on defense and on the glass.

USF's .370 field goal percentage ranks 281st nationally and its .303 three-point shooting average ranks 200th among Division I teams.

The Bulls average 65.3 points per contest, which ranks 154th in the country.

Advantage: NC State

South Florida makes up for its lack of explosive offense on the defensive end.

The Bulls' opponents average just 54.3 points per game, which ranks 12th in Division I.

USF also has a defensive field goal percentage of .349 and a defensive three-point field goal percentage of .246, good for 13th and third nationally.

The Bulls will have their work cut out for them Tuesday, however, considering NC State ranks 13th in the NCAA in field goal percentage (.469) and 28th in three-point field goal percentage (.361).

Advantage: South Florida

South Florida averages 43.8 rebounds per game, good for 10th nationally.

The Bulls also average a +8.8 rebounding margin per contest, which ranks 16th nationally. NC State averages +7.8 rebounds per game in margin, which puts its four notches lower at 20th in Division I.

USF does a lot of its damage on the offensive glass. The Bulls average 15.8 offensive rebounds per game, which ranks 14th in the country.

The Wolfpack just faced a strong rebounding team in North Carolina A&T, which ranked 12th nationally with 15.9 offensive rebounds per contest. The Aggies were only able to reel in six offensive rebounds in the 79-58 first-round loss to the Pack, however.

Advantage: Tie

Senior forward Bethy Mununga was one of two players out of the American Athletic Conference to average a double-double this season.

Mununga averaged 10 points per game but led the league and ranked second in the NCAA with 13.1 rebounds per game.

The 6-0 native of Belgium finished with six points, 11 rebounds and three blocks in the Bulls' first-round win over Washington State.

3 Straight Sweet Sixteen appearances is what NC State could claim with a win Tuesday. The Wolfpack made back-to-back Sweet Sixteens in 2018 and 2019 before the 2020 NCAA Tournament was canceled due to COVID-19 within a week of the Pack winning the ACC Tournament. A three-year Sweet Sixteen steak would tie the program record.

33 Points from the bench NC State received in the first-round win over North Carolina A&T. South Florida scored just three of its points off of the bench in its first-round win over Washington State, and only one reserve played double-digit minutes.

31.1 Defensive rebounds per game is NC State's average, which ranks fifth nationally, entering Tuesday's contest. It will be strength versus strength Tuesday, considering USF ranks in the nation top 15 in offensive rebounding.

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