TAMPA—
The University of South Florida Bulls held off the University of Memphis Tigers on Saturday by a score of 84-78. The Tigers erased a huge first half lead by the Bulls to make it a close game at the end.
Everything went right for the Bulls in the opening minutes of the game while everything went wrong for Memphis. A layup by LaQuincy Rideau started the scoring for USF, which was followed up quickly by a David Collins dunk. Seven seconds later, Collins is fouled and sent to the free throw line where he made back-to-back free throws to put the Bulls up, 6-0. A pair of three pointers by Justin Brown extended the Bulls’ lead to 12-0 just over three minutes into the game.
Memphis finally got on the scoreboard with a Tyler Harris free throw. With 13:39 remaining in the first half, the Bulls led 19-1. USF would eventually build up a 25 point, 38-13 lead by the halftime break.
In the second half, the Bulls increased their lead to 27 points with 17:24 to go in the game. A missed free throw by Alexis Yetna, rebounded by Isaiah Maurice would lead to a Jeremiah Martin layup that would start a fire for Martin. The Martin’s layup would start a 23-7 run for the Tigers to get them within 11 points with 11:22 on the game clock. Martin, who was 0-3 in the first half, scored 17 of those 23 points.
The Bulls would pull away a bit, leading by 16 with 9:49 and 6:24 to go in the game. Each time, however, Memphis would push back. With a little more than four minutes left in the game, a 3 pointer by Harris cut the Tiger deficit to nine points, the close the game had been since the opening minutes of the first half. Memphis would outscore the Bulls 18-15 down the stretch, but getting to within 6 points was all they could do in regulation, losing to the Bulls, 84-78.
Martin had an incredible second half. He finished with 41 points, all scored in second half of play. More than half of his points came from an impressive 7-9 performance from beyond the arc. Only one other Tiger scored in double-digits. Kyvon Davenport finished with 13 points, three of which were three pointers. Memphis was held to just 36% shooting overall.
Three Bulls scored in double-digits, led by Collins and Brown, with 20 and 19 points, respectively. LaQuincy Rideau finished third in scoring, with 15 points. Michael Durr led the team in rebounds with nine.
USF made 55% of their shots and that efficiency, particularly from the free throw line, was key to the win. Not only were they better from the line, 73% to 67%, but they had nearly twice as many opportunities. The Bulls made 32 of their 44 free throw attempts, while Memphis went 16 of 24. That advantage was too much for the Tigers to overcome, even if they had made every free throw try they had.
In many other areas of the game, Memphis led or dominated. They committed ten less turnovers than the Bulls (20-30), scored more points off of turnovers (24-19), and made more second chance points (14-6). Remarkably, the two teams tied in total rebounds (36), points in the paint (26), fast break points (10), and assists (14).
After the game, USF head coach, Brian Gregory, talked about the game.
“Give them credit, but give our guys credit, we’re 5-4 at the turn,” said Gregory. “We’re playing well. We have deficiencies, we have holes, but toughness and character isn’t one of them.
“The reason those guys are here is because they are tough enough to say yes, like I told them in the locker room, to come in here when everyone was like ‘why would you go there’? Every single guy in our program came here without any evidence that we could be successful. So that’s an inherent toughness and character that sometimes shows in games.”
Gregory praised his players for their success.
“The players deserve all the credit for where we at right now,” he said. “Five wins is the most wins that this program has ever had in this conference, in a season. We’ve never won three games in a row in this conference. Hopefully in five years, those won’t seem that big. But today, they do.”
Penny Hardaway, head coach of Memphis, was asked what he thought about where USF’s program is now.
“They got a solid team,” said Hardaway. “They play hard. They’re well coached. On any given night, they can beat anybody. They’ve got the guards, they’ve got the bigs, even though the bigs are young. They have an opportunity to do some special stuff.
“Their record, 15-6 (5-4). The conference is not easy. It’s not easy winning games. I like their team. They have good guards and you have to have good guards to win in this league.”
The Tigers fall to 13-9 (5-4) with the loss. They will host Cincinnati in their next matchup on February 7th for a 6:00 PM game start.
With the win, the Bulls are now 15-6 (5-4), winners of three in a row. They will head to Dallas to face SMU on February 7th. Tip-off for that game is 9:00 PM, EST. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2 or ESPNU.
