Instant Analysis: South Florida 57 Memphis 58

South Florida freshman guard Caleb Murphy scored a career high 20 points and Michael Durr had his third straight game with at least ten rebounds but it wasn’t enough as Memphis defeated USF 58-57 at FedExForum Tuesday night.

Justin Brown added 11 points for USF (5-4, 1-2 AAC) on 4-of-5 shooting.

Lester Quinones scored 13 points to lead Memphis (6-4, 2-1 AAC), DeAndre Williams had 12 and Landers Nolley II added ten points.

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

IT WAS OVER WHEN: Murphy’s shot was blocked with :02 remaining and the ball rolled out of bounds.

HE STOLE THE SHOW: Alex Lomax did not score much, five points, but he was terrific defensively. Especially in the second half when he came up with three big steals. Lomax also had three assists after the break.

Several players scored more points but when it looked like USF was going to sneak out of FedExForum with another win Lomax changed the game.

THE STAT DOESN’T LIE: Memphis scored more than half of its points (25) off Bulls turnovers (17).

WHAT A PLAY: David Collins was trapped right after crossing the timeline, he threw a desperation pass to Brown who passed it to Murphy and the freshman drove straight to the basket to finish with a vicious dunk over Moussa Cisse. It brought USF within three at 25-28 early in the second half.

THE BOTTOM LINE: South Florida was not strong with the ball and blew another second half lead. The Bulls have to figure out how to break a press and run an offense against a zone quickly because they host UCF on Saturday. The Knights will come to Yuengling Center with multiple zone defense and full court packages.