USF basketball leaves Penny Hardaway near tears as the Bulls steamroll Memphis

You could say that USF was in the zone Thursday night.

The Bulls almost exclusively employ a man-to-man defense. But after noticing that Memphis struggled against a zone in recent games, head coach Bryan Hodgson decided to throw a zone look into the mix for Thursday's key American Conference matchup with the Tigers before a season-high crowd of 6,705 at the Yuengling Center.

Did it work? You betcha! The Bulls spotted Memphis a 5-point lead about seven minutes into the game. From there, however, USF caught up and then pulled away from the Tigers en route to an 87-66 win.

"I've been kind of weighing the decision for the last 48 hours. on my own. about playing zone. We worked out a little bit in practice but every time I mention going zone, these guys are, no, we're staying man," Hodgson said.


"We went to it after about four or five minutes tonight and stayed with it for the rest of the game for the most part."

As much as we talk about the Bulls' high-octane offense, they also play suffocating defense. USF held Memphis without a field goal for about seven minutes in the later stages of the first half. In one stretch, the Tigers missed 22 of 24 shot attempts.

However, let's not get too deep into the x's and o's because this game was about more than that. It was what college basketball on campus is supposed to be. Students flocked to the game in large numbers and made their presence felt as they turned the YC into a true home-court advantage.

"What a crowd. Really, really special atmosphere," Hodgson said. "That crowd had a big impact tonight."

On the court, USF was just better than the Tigers. The gap right between these two teams is considerable, and that truth left Memphis coach Penny Hardaway near tears afterward.

“I wanted that game, bro. You know what I’m saying?” said Hardaway in a video posted by The Commercial Appeal’s Jason Munz.

After a long silence, he added: “I just wanted the game.”

Memphis, the preseason favorite to win the American Conference, is instead in eighth place with a 12-14 record and a three-game losing streak. Hardaway is an iconic figure in his hometown, but the long knives are coming out, and there is open talk about a coaching change.

“I’m just gonna keep grinding with my guys and believing in them. That’s what I’m gonna do. It’s tough. We’ve never been here before, but it’s not impossible,” he said.

The emotion on the USF side was, of course, decidedly different.

The Bulls maintained a two-game lead in the American Conference with four games to play. With two more wins, they can clinch their second regular-season conference title in three years -- the first two in program history.

USF has won five consecutive games and improved to 19-8 overall and 11-3 in the American. If the Bulls win out in the regular season, they will reach 23 wins and match the total reached by the breakout team coached by Amir Abdur-Rahim two years ago.

The win boosted the Bulls' NET ranking to a program-best No. 53 and No. 55 in the Ken Pom rankings. And if they keep this up, those numbers will keep climbing.

"We've got a talented, talented team," Hodgson said. "Our guys were locked in start to finish."

And now, as if opponents don't have enough concerns about how to deal with this deep, multi-skilled team, they have to spend practice time preparing to possibly face a zone.

Soak it iin Bulls fans because Hodgson's right. This is special.