USF men's hoops face a key challenge Thursday, while volleyball heads to the NCAAs

While the big news coming out of USF on Wednesday was the signing of Brian Hartline as the Bulls new head football coach, there are still other significant athletic events taking place.

On Thursday night, the men's basketball team will host undefeated Utah State (7-0) at 7 p.m. in the Yuengling Center. The Aggies will be a handful for the Bulls.

Utah State is The Aggies is No. 22 in the first NET rankings of the season, making it the highest-ranked Mountain West team in the key analytic. The Aggies are the second-highest ranked mid-major team in the poll, only behind No. 5 Gonzaga.

USF is 4-4 after dropping two out of three games last week in the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas. The Bulls fell to VCU and Colorado State, but rallied from 17 points down to beat Western Kentucky 97-91 in overtime.

"I'll tell you this to you, to all of our fans and supporters and the people that made this trip, you know, we really appreciate you. Our efforts got to be better spending your hard earned money to come down here and watch this team. But I can promise you, we're going to get this fixed," first-year USF coach Bryan Hodgson told Bulls Unlimited after the 83-68 loss to Colorado State to close the three-day event.

After coming into the tournament averaging 100 points per game, USF scored 66 and 68 in its two losses.

The USF women's team will be back in action on Friday at the Yuengling Center against Houston Christian following an 85-51 home-court loss Tuesday to unbeaten and defending national champion UConn.

The Bulls were blown out early, trailing 48-16 at halftime in falling to 5-4 on the season.

"I guess this is what it's like to play a national championship team," USF interim head coach Michelle Woods-Baxter said. "We saw them last year and I feel UConn looks even better than they were last year. It's always great to have an opportunity to play a team at that level."

UConn is 143-0 all-time against American Conference opponents, with 33 of those wins coming against USF.

Also, the women's volleyball team earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament

for USF's first appearance there in 23 years.

"It's hard to put into words what this means," head coach Jolene Shepardson said. "I was on the last USF team that made the NCAA Tournament as a player, so to see our program get back to this stage after all these years is really special.

"This team has earned every bit of this opportunity, and I'm so proud of their growth, grit, and commitment. We can't wait to represent South Florida in the postseason."

USF has a tough draw. The Bull will face Penn State, the defending national champions, on Friday, December 5 in Austin, Texas, to open the tournament.

Even so, the Nittany Lions have had, by their standard, a subpar year. The enter the tournament with an 18-12 record and were eliminated by Nebraska 3-0 in the first round of the Big Ten tournament.

The Bulls finished 17-12.