Next game: USF (11-10, 4-4) at Florida Atlantic (10-10, 3-4)
When: Sunday, February 2, 2 p.m.
Media: ESPN2 and Bulls Unlimited
The USF men’s basketball season was slip, slip, slipping away Tuesday night at the Yuengling Center. At least that’s how it looked, as the Bulls were behind Rice by 14 points with less than a minute left in the first half of the American Athletic Conference game.
How had this happened?
The Bulls were essentially playing five guards after 6-9 forward De`Ante Green left the game after four minutes because of a foot injury. The Bulls were already without 6-11 Jamelle Reynolds (illness).
Their tallest player for the last 36 minutes was 6-foot-6 guard Quincy Ademokoya.
There’s more than one way to win a basketball game, however, and USF proved that by pressing, harassing, scrambling, and ultimately pulling away for a 69-64 victory that, considering everything, was the Bulls’ unlikeliest win of the season.
“We were undersized, undermanned all night long, but man, the fight that these guys showed, that's what, that's what I was so impressed with,” interim coach Ben Fletcher said.
“I’ve said it time and time again, but they're a resilient bunch, man. They’ve got a next play mentality, no matter how bad it may look.”
A #SCTop10 SLAMMMM😤😤#AmericanWay x @USFMBB pic.twitter.com/XjjMs5vsN4
— The American (@American_Conf) January 29, 2025
Despite the size disadvantage, the Bulls only had a 41-37 disadvantage on the boards. Their scrambling defense came up with 15 steals by the flummoxed Owls. The Bulls got 26 points off Rice turnovers to just 10 for the visitors. Eight different players had steals for USF.
Ademokoya was huge – figuratively and literally – in the effort he showed after Green was injured. He had a team-high 12 rebounds to go with 12 points for the first double-double of his career.
Kasen Jennings led the Bulls with 17 points.
After Rice led 32-18 late in the first half, the Bulls went on a 12-0 run over the remainder of the half and into the second 20 minutes to get back in the game.
A pair of free throws by CJ Brown put USF ahead 35-34 with 17:49 left and the Bulls never trailed again.
This has been arguably the most challenging men’s basketball seasons in USF history, starting with the passing of head coach Amir Abdur-Rahim shortly before the season began.
The season has had its share of high and low points, but games like this remind you what this team is all about. It hasn’t always been pretty, but the Bulls have always been gritty – never more so than in this game.
Here’s another eye-popping stat: USF had just one turnover in the second half.
“That just showed you how connected we were tonight,” Fletcher said. “And you know, those guys had each other's back, so really proud of the one turnover in the second half because that’s winning time, it really matters. One turnover at the wrong moment can totally shift the game, so to be able to take care of it in the crunch time, I was really impressed with that.”
That was just one of the many reasons to be impressed with what USF did in this game.