The USF men's basketball team took a tough loss to the IUPUI Jaguars, 70-53 on Wednesday in the first game of the Cayman Islands Classic.
The University of South Florida Bulls were beaten by the Indiana University – Purdue University Jaguars, 70-53 on Wednesday night. All-around poor shooting plagued the Bulls throughout the game.
The first half was a back-and-forth battle, but the Jaguars held the lead nearly three times as long as the Bulls, who came into the game 15 point favorites. USF was outshot 57%-46% in the first half, but was able to stay within a couple of points, trailing IUPUI 38-36 at the break.
The game remained close in the second period, with IUPUI leading by just one, 49-48 with 11:18 to go in the game. The Jaguars would then go on a 16-1 run over the next 11 minutes, to lead by 16 with over two minutes on the game clock. The Bulls would only score once more, allowing the Jaguars to secure the win.
After playing competitive to start the game, the Bulls made just 27% of their field goals (7-26) and just 8% (1-12) from beyond the arc. They were outscored 32-17 in the second half. 16 of IUPUI’s points in the second half came from turnovers, while the Bulls had just a pair. The Jaguars also dominated the paint in the period, 18-6 and fast break points, 10-0. Overall, IUPUI made 51% of their shots, compared to just 37% for the Bulls.
Marcus Burk was excellent for the Jaguars. Burk scored 26 points and had nine rebounds. He was 4-5 from the three point arc. Jaylen Minnett also had a big game, scoring 17 points with seven assists.
After the game, USF head basketball coach, Brian Gregory, had praise for those players and their team.
“Give them a ton of credit,” said Gregory. “We talked about their three point shooting ability, in particular, those two guys, Minnett and Burk. Burk is one of the few players that I know of that has made ten three pointers in a game. Those two guards, obviously, dominated the game.”
For the Bulls, Laquincy Rideau had a solid performance. With 15 points, he was one of two Bulls in double-digits. He also finished the game with seven steals. Rashun Williams finished with 11 points, going 2-2 from three-point-range. Justin Brown led the team in rebounds with seven.
“How we planned for six months, we’re not going to be able to play that way,” said Gregory. “Some guys need to step up, there’s no question about that. In this process that we’re under, you’re going to have some tough, tough days.”
The obvious difference has been the absence of Alexis Yetna, who will miss the season after an unspecified knee surgery. But, Yetna hasn’t been the only player missing from the lineup for the past two games. Junior forward, Mayan Kiir, has been dealing with undisclosed personal issues. Gregory was asked for an update of Kiir’s status.
“Mayan with his situation, I met with him earlier this week, and kind of a mutual decision, he’s going to look at some different options,” said Gregory. “Either go play professionally, or possibly look at going to another school. He’s going to finish out this semester. He’s one of our players. He’s getting our unwavering support and everything.”
From his remarks, it seems clear that the team is struggling to deal with those personnel issues.
“Overall, those things, in terms of not having some guys, that’s college basketball,” said Gregory. “Take a look around. And when that happens, it puts you in a tailspin, but we’ve got to be able to respond better than we did these last two games. We definitely have to do that.”
That response will have to wait. The loss to IUPUI was the first game of the Cayman Islands Classic. Game two of that tournament will be at the Yuengling Center against Wofford on November 21st. They will then play three games in the Cayman Islands during the week of Thanksgiving.
