USF men couldn't contain East Carolina on the inside, leading to a 64-55 AAC loss

USF 6-11 center Jamille Reynolds, shown here against Florida, missed Saturday's loss at East Carolina for what interim coach Ben Fletcher called conduct detrimental to the team | William Purnell-Imagn Images
USF 6-11 center Jamille Reynolds, shown here against Florida, missed Saturday's loss at East Carolina for what interim coach Ben Fletcher called conduct detrimental to the team | William Purnell-Imagn Images | Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Next game: Rice vs. USF at the Yuengling Center

When: January 28, 7 p.m.

Media: ESPN+ and Bulls Unlimited

Be forewarned: What you are about to read regarding the 64-55 loss Saturday by the USF men‘s basketball team to East Carolina didn’t require a lot of hard-hitting analysis.

It was obvious why this loss happened.

Three of USF’s tallest players missed the game. Jamille Reynolds (6-foot-11) and Corey Walker, Jr. (6-8) were suspended by interim coach Ben Fletcher for the standard reason: conduct detrimental to the team.

That could have opened the door for 7-0 sophomore center Daniel Tobiloba to see his first extended action of the season, but he has a foot injury and couldn’t play.

Any semblance of an inside game vanished at that point, leading to a 48-27 rebound advantage for the Pirates, including 17 offensive boards (spoiler alert: that’s a lot). The Bulls also shot just 35 percent from the floor, and when they tried to go inside it often resulted in missed shots as they went against the taller Pirates.

“Their size affected us,” Fletcher said on his post-game radio show. “(ECU’s C.J) Walker had a couple of blocks in there, but he had more altered shots too. We’ve got to do a better job of finishing around the rim.”

Walker hasn’t played since December 14 at Utah State, when he logged five minutes and no points in that game. This was the 10th consecutive game he has missed, so even though he remains listed on USF’s roster it’s worth wondering if he has played his last game as a Bull.

The good news is that Fletcher said he expects Reynolds to be back with the team for Tuesday’s home game against Rice. There was no update on how long Tobiloba will be out.

There was some good news in Saturday’s game. Kobe Knox was 5-of-6 on 3-pointers and led the Bulls with 17 points.

The loss was USF’s fourth in its last five games, dropping the Bulls to 10-10 over and 3-4 in the American Athletic Conference.

Still, Fletcher said he believes the material is there to turn things in a positive direction.

“I think they're right there because meeting (after the game) in the locker room, you’ve got guys saying the right thing. They could have said this ain't working. But no, they said, man, it's on us,” Fletcher said.

“It's guys taking ownership and look, and I told them that I’ve got to do a better job of putting them in position to help them as well. It's a collective effort.”

Schedule

Schedule