Everything clicked as USF basketball goes wire-to-wire over Tulsa

Every game is big at this time of year, but USF's 80-74 win over Tulsa had a little extra oomph. The Golden Hurricane entered the day alone in first place in the American Conference. They left it tied with the Bulls for the top spot as a raucous crowd at the Yuengling Center expressed its approval.

"Great, great crowd, and it always starts with our student section, led by our SoFlo Rodeo. They do a phenomenal job," Bulls coach Bryan Hodgson said. "But this crowd, it was good. If you don't think it made a difference, you're crazy."

The Bulls never trailed.

And how did they do it?

Well, if you wanted to design what USF would need to defeat a Tulsa team that was 20-3 overall entering the game, it would include:

A dominating performance by Bulls' forward Izaiyah Nelson, who had 25 points and 10 rebounds.

You would need superior guard play, and Wes Enis and CJ Brown combined for 34 points, 14 assists, and - get this - ZERO turnovers.

You would want a fast start to set the tone, which USF provided by jumping to a 14-1 lead to start the game.

But Tulsa hasn't won 20 games by accident, and it was not about to go quietly. With a barrage of 3-pointers -- they finished the game with 15 of them -- the Golden Hurricane tied the game at 49-49 with 15;00 remaining.

So, you would want the Bulls to keep their poise in the face of Tulsa's run. Shortly after Tulsa tied the game, Joseph Pinion sank a 3-pointer for the Bulls to restore order, and the visitors trailed the rest of the way.

So what, you ask? Isn't that what Pinion is supposed to do?

It is. But he went scoreless in the first half before scoring 11 points in the final 20 minutes.

"Man, he's an elite shooter, and elite shooters miss shots, right? I remind these guys all the time, like, Steph Curry misses shots," Hodgson said. "I mean, Klay Thompson missed shots. You can go down to Michael Jordan with shots.

"And the important thing for me is that you don't turn down the next clean look. That's when we have a problem. Continue to shoot the ball as long as they're good shots, and that's what Joe does."

The Bulls sealed the deal by making eight of nine free throw attempts in the final 2:05. As far as being in first place in the conference is better than not being there, but it's too early to get caught up in that.

"We've got a lot of basketball ahead of us. You know, it's always fun to win, and it's great. I want our guys to enjoy this. We beat a really good team," Hodgson said. "We beat them twice. They're really good offensively. I thought our guys did a phenomenal job, executing on both ends."

Just like they drew it up.