{"id":103389,"date":"2026-01-02T16:23:39","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T16:23:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/103389\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T16:23:39","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T16:23:39","slug":"usf-mens-basketball-ready-for-conference-play-after-tough-non-conference-slate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/103389\/","title":{"rendered":"USF men\u2019s basketball ready for conference play after tough non conference slate"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"USF USF men’s basketball begins new chapter<\/a> <\/p>\n

The USF’s men’s basketball team begins a new chapter in the Bryan Hodgson era on Sunday as the team begins conference play. FOX 13’s Mark Skol Jr. reports.\u00a0<\/p>\n

TAMPA, Fla. – \u00a0The USF men’s basketball season is off to a solid start.<\/p>\n

\u00a0“Thrilled,” USF men\u2019s basketball head coach Bryan Hodgson said. “We want to win them all.”<\/p>\n

Home Sweet Home:<\/p>\n

So far, the Bulls have won all of their games played at home.<\/p>\n

\u00a0“I tell our guys all the time, good teams win home games,” Hodgson said. “Great teams win home games and road games. If you can continue to win all of your home games and pick some people off on the road, you are going to give yourself a chance.”<\/p>\n

\u00a0USF feels like they have a chance to accomplish whatever they want because of how they set up their schedule.<\/p>\n

\u00a0“Our losses are to really good basketball teams, “Hodgson said. “They are picked to win their conference for the most part.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tough Schedule:<\/p>\n

The Bulls non conference schedule was the 15th\u00a0toughest in the nation according to ESPN. While the 8-5 record might not look great on paper, USF believes that gauntlet of a schedule with games at Alabama and Oklahoma State, helped prepare them for conference play.<\/p>\n

\u00a0“We do that strategically,” Hodgson said. “It would be great to be 13-0 right now, but would we be prepared for UAB\u00a0on Jan. 4, probably not. Now I feel like they are.”<\/p>\n

\u00a0They certainly feel prepared for whatever comes their way.<\/p>\n

What they’re saying:<\/p>\n

\u00a0“I think it has prepared us because we have played teams from many different conferences, just seeing different play styles,” USF senior Josh Omojafo said. “Every team does something different. We have great coaches who are able to adjust on the fly to make adjustments and that will help us make adjustments.”<\/p>\n

\u00a0The guys are excited for the conference slate.<\/p>\n

\u00a0“I think we are ready for whatever the conference throws at us,” USF sophomore guard CJ Brown said. “All teams.”<\/p>\n

\u00a0And they are ready for all challenges the American will bring.<\/p>\n

\u00a0“We are ready,” Hodgson said. “The guys understand the level and commitment it takes to win a game like that. I think it\u2019ll pay off.”<\/p>\n

What’s next:<\/p>\n

The conference schedule\u00a0begins on Sunday at 1 p.m.\u00a0against UAB at home.<\/p>\n

The Source: The information in this story was gathered by FOX 13\u2019s Mark Skol, Jr. after attending the USF men\u2019s basketball game between the Bulls and Georgia College and State University.<\/p>\n

Tampa<\/a>NCAA<\/a>University of South Florida Bulls<\/a>University of South Florida<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"USF men’s basketball begins new chapter The USF’s men’s basketball team begins a new chapter in the Bryan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":103390,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[47,629,142,33736,1536,110,135,137,136,628,1537,53788],"class_list":{"0":"post-103389","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa","8":"tag-fl","9":"tag-hillsborough","10":"tag-ncaa","11":"tag-ncaa-basketball","12":"tag-organization","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-tampa","15":"tag-tampa-headlines","16":"tag-tampa-news","17":"tag-us","18":"tag-usf","19":"tag-usf-basketball"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}