Instant Analysis: South Florida 55 No. 10 Houston 74

HOUSTON, TX (Jan. 18, 2022) -- South Florida made the first two shots of the game but it was all Houston after that and the No. 10 Cougars coasted to a 74-55 American Athletic Conference win Tuesday night at the Fertitta Center.

Just before tipoff we reported that graduate student Javon Greene was unavailable tonight for the Bulls (6-11, 1-4 AAC) who were also without Jake Boggs and Jalyn McCreary for the second consecutive game.

USF Freshman D.J. Patrick scored a team high 19 points, Caleb Murphy added 12 points to go along with career highs in rebounds (8) and assists (8). Russel Tchewa grabbed a game high 8 rebounds.

Kyler Edwards led the Cougars with a game high 23 points and a team high seven rebounds. Fabian White Jr. had 16 points, Josh Carlton scored 15 and Taze Moore added 13.

BullsInsider.com covered the game and here is our Instant Analysis:

IT WAS OVER WHEN: Sam Hines Jr. missed a three-pointer at the shot clock buzzer with 3:59 left and the Bulls trailing 65-48.

HE STOLE THE SHOW: Edwards scored 17 of his points came in the first half on 4-of-8 shooting (all his makes were threes) from the field. He also blocked a Russel Tchewa shot and had two steals. Edwards’ scoring keyed the Cougars offense which only trailed for 2:55 of the game.

THE STAT DOESN’T LIE: Houston outscored USF 30-10 in the paint.

WHAT A PLAY: Early in the second half, Houston forward White Jr. missed a three-pointer. The Bulls did not cut out Ramon Walker Jr. who flew in from the three-point line, grabbed the rebound and laid it in to give the Cougars a 22 point lead at 40-18.

THE BOTTOM LINE: USF's offense looked completely out of sync in the first half without Greene. The Bulls' first made three-pointer came with 1:48 left in the first half. Up next for the Bulls is a two-game homestand starting Saturday at noon against Temple (ESPNU) and Wed., Jan 26 at 7 p.m. ET against SMU (ESPN+).