Instant Analysis: South Florida 58 East Carolina 73

R.J. Felton and Jaden Walker each scored 22 points to lead East Carolina to a 73-58 victory over South Florida Thursday afternoon in the opening round of the American Athletic Conference Championship at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.

The Bulls (15-17; 7-11 AAC) built a ten point first half lead at 24-14 but the Pirates (16-16; 6-12 AAC) went on a 27-9 run during the final 8:08 of the half and never looked back.

In his final NCAA game, Tyler Harris scored a game high 26-points. He was the only Bull in double figures. Harris made 6-of-14 three-pointers. Sam Hines Jr. added 8 points and Russel Tchewa had a game high 11-rebounds to go along with 7-points.

IT WAS OVER WHEN: Walker caught a Felton lob and flushed it to give the Pirates a 70-53 lead with 2:29 to play.

HE STOLE THE SHOW: Walker stuffed the stat sheet today. He got his 22 points on 10-of-18 shooting, dished 10 assists, grabbed 6 rebounds and a steal while playing 39 minutes.

THE STAT DOESN’T LIE: Actually two stood out to me. ECU was 13-of-17 from the charity stripe compared to 7-of-8 for USF. Additionally, the Pirates turned 14 USF turnovers into 19 points while the Bulls turned 10 ECU turnovers into 7 points.

WHAT A PLAY: With 8:17 to play, Felton used a hard in-and-out dribble plus went between the legs, the moves put his defender – Keyshawn Bryant – stumble and touch the floor while Felton drained a step-back three to give the Pirates a 65-48 lead.

THE BOTTOM LINE: The 2022-23 men’s basketball season is over for South Florida.