Next game: USF (10-6, 3-0) at Wichita State (7-9, 1-2)
When: January 8, 7 p.m.
Media: ESPN+ Bulls Unlimited
The USF women’s basketball team hasn’t been the same since the final 3 ½ quarters of the Bulls game last month at South Carolina. After falling behind by 14 points midway through the first quarter, they played the 2nd-ranked Gamecocks basically even for the remainder of the game.
The Bulls have won all five games they played since that day, the latest of which came Saturday night against a good Temple team 65-56 at the Yuengling Center. That pushed USF to 3-0 in the American Athletic Conference and 10-6 overall.
The Bulls played most of the game without point guard Mama Dembele. She had a back issue which limited her mobility and came out of the game after two minutes. She did not return.
But graduate guard Sammie Puisis continued her strong play with a season-high 26 points, including 6-of-11 on 3-pointers. Junior forward Carla Brito was solid all around with 14 points, 10 rebounds, and a career-best six assists.
“It's all credit to my teammates,” Puisis said. “They found me, they set good screens, made good passes, and I was able to knock them down.”
Puisis has 23 or more points in three of the last four contests.
“We had one kid who had a super night in Sammie,” Bulls coach Jose Fernandez said. “I thought we found her, and she made shots. Carla was steady. Look at her stat line, how she rebounded, her assists, no turnovers, much, much needed.”
Fernandez also was pleased with his team’s defensive effort
“I thought we defended a lot better coming off that last game,” he said, referring to a one-point overtime win against East Carolina.
When Puisis is connecting from long-range like she did in this game, it creates a defensive conundrum for the opponents. She missed nearly all of last season with a knee injury and the Bulls struggled accordingly.
“It just makes things better, because it opens up the post play. It opens up into your passing, it opens up driving lanes. And she's good,” Fernandez said.
“You know, we knew that about her. I mean, we're a different team without her on the floor last year, right? So, when she's getting it going and she's putting the ball in the basket., a lot of other things open up.”
Go back to that game at South Carolina.
The Bulls lost that day for the fourth time in five games and fell to 5-6 overall, but it was the start of a different vibe for this team. Fernandez spent most of November and December trying to get a team with 10 new players to meld together.
It was as if they realized after South Carolina that they could hang with elite teams, and they proved that on December 21st by beating 9th-ranked Duke.
Now, the Bulls join UTSA and North Texas atop the AAC standings at 3-0 and they look like the team people predicted would be the team to beat in the conference.