Short-handed USF men's basketball dominated on the boards in loss to Wichita State

Next  game: Memphis (20-4, 10-1) vs. USF (12-12, 5-6)

When: Thursday, February 13, 9 p.m. at the Yuengling Center

Media: ESPN2 and Bulls Unlimited

The half-empty, half-full season that USF men’s basketball has experienced was empty again Sunday when the Bulls lost 75-70 at home to Wichita State.

That’s the same team USF buried by 19 points on January 6 at Wichita. The Shockers entered this game 2-7 in the American Athletic Conference, but they pushed USF around – especially on the boards. The Shockers held a 42-22 rebounding edge, and that total included a 19-3 margin on the offensive boards.

“It’s obvious where the game took a toll on us, and that's obviously in the rebounding category,” Bulls interim coach Ben Fletcher said. “ I mean, you can't give up 19 offensive rebounds and expect to be the good team, no matter if you're at home or on the road.

“If you take one stat out, and you take away the rebounding stat, and I think you will say that South Florida won this game, but that's not how the game is played. We’ve got to get better at rebounding and do a much better job at trying to get in position so we can get I those rebounds.”

That’s not all, however.

The Bulls were already without 6-9 forward De`Ante Green, who is out for the season with a foot injury. In this game, they played without guard Kobe Knox, who nursed an ankle injury. Knox is second on the team in completed 3-point shots and he has the highest success rate in that area.

Without him, USF was just 3-of-17 from beyond the arc. Wichita also hit 24-of-29 free throws, including 14-of-15 by Xavier Bell en route to a game-high 26 points.

The Bulls were 19-of-27 from the line.

And if things weren’t already tough enough, USF’s next assignment is a Thursday night home game against AAC leader Memphis. The Tigers might be reminded once or twice in the coming days of USF rallied from a 20-point deficit in the second half last season to win at Memphis.

That, of course, is a different USF team from what we see now. There are a myriad of reasons for that, but no one feels sorry for the Bulls.

USF has shown it is capable of playing excellent basketball, but the opposite is also true. You’re never quite sure what you’re going to get with these Bulls, but with the season dragging on and the injuries increasing, put it this way: it doesn’t look good.