Two years and one month ago, the USF basketball team, under first-year head coach Amir Abdur-Rahim, flew to Memphis to face the 10th-ranked Tigers.
Memphis, 15-2 and 4-0 in league play, was favored by 11 points and, with about 18 minutes left in the game, that looked like a modest spread. The Tigers led by 20 points, and everything seemed to be as it should.
However, the league known then as the American Athletic Conference, was about to turn upside down. On the strength of five 3-pointers, the Bulls clawed back into the game. And when Kasean Pryor hit a free throw with four seconds to play, USF completed the second-largest comeback in program history with a stunning 74-73 win.
That outcome proved to be rocket fuel for the rest of the season. It was the second of USF's school-record 15-game winning streak and it powered the Bulls to the first regular-season conference championship in program history.
USF and Coach Amir became a national story, which allowed him to share his powerful words to live by: Love Wins.
WALKING IN MEMPHIS WITH A VICTORY!!!@selton_miguel and @1kasean both score 20 points!!!#HornsUp🤘| #EDGE pic.twitter.com/T5kudKP3YD
— USF Men's Basketball (@USFMBB) January 19, 2024
The loss started the Tigers on a four-game conference losing streak, and they fell out of the race and lost in the first round of the AAC tournament.
Bulls fans never get tired of hearing that story, and it's appropriate to bring it up now because Memphis travels to the Yuenling Center on Thursday night for a nationally televised game against the Bulls. The roles are reversed this time, however, compared to two years ago.
USF, under first-year coach Bryan Hodgson, is alone in first place by two games in the American Conference. The Tigers are scuffling, standing just 12-13 overall and 2-8 on the road.
"It's interesting how everything kind of lines up. And obviously, we've got another basketball game on Thursday, which happens to be against Memphis," Hodgson said.
"But you know, what's even cooler is, if you looked at the American Conference three years ago, people weren't talking about South Florida. They talked about Memphis and UAB, and Coach Amir put South Florida in that conversation. And I take a lot of pride personally in making sure that South Florida stays in that conversation."
Coach Amir's tragic death shortly before last season began was too much for the Bulls to overcome, but Hodgson has them back in the mix for an NCAA tournament bid. But he said that Abdur-Rahim is never far from his mind. He wears a "love wins" bracelet every day to remind him of the late coach's favorite saying.
"I honestly can tell you that I show up to this office every day with the intentions of making him proud of a program that he built. I didn't walk into a rebuild. I've said that multiple times. I walked into a rock-solid foundation laid by an unbelievable man," Hodgson said.
"I think our players understand (who he was), even the guys that did not know Coach, about the legacy that he left behind and who he was as a man, just from their interactions with people that had the opportunity to know him. "
Hodgson said he had a short interaction with Coach Amir at the 2024 Final Four in Phoenix. Hodgson was coming off his first year as a head coach at Arkansas State, where the Red Wolves had a 20-17 season.
"I remember exactly where we were. I remember the corner we were on in downtown Phoenix. I remember feeling his hand on my shoulder and being completely surprised when I turned around. It was him, and we just walked together for about two blocks, stood at a red light together, and waited for traffic to go by," Hodgson said.
"And the entire time, it was him telling me that he was proud of me. He knows how hard it is continue to work like everything, and that was I needed to hear honestly in that moment."
Hodgson said the conversation continues today on a different plane.
"The relationship's not gone. I'm a believer, and I think about him every, every morning. I read a devotional, and man, there are a lot of times where, during the reading of my devotional that I think about Coach," he said.
"It's almost like, you know, he's given the Lord the words that I need to hear that day because he's been in the seat. There's a lot of pressure that comes with following Coach Amir, but it's also a privilege. It truly is, because I didn't want to rebuild anything. I wanted to do this in a way that would honor him, and I hope that we're doing that."