USF men gave everything they had Sunday at UAB but it wasn't enough to get a win

Next game: USF (11-14, 5-8) at UTSA (10-15, 4-9)

When: Wednesday, February 19, 8 p.m.

Watch/Listen: ESPN+ and Bulls Unlimited

Sunday’s 85-78 loss at UAB summed up the season for the USF men’s basketball team.

The Bulls, particularly 6-11 forward Jamille Reynolds, played about well as they could. Reynolds had 27 points and 14 rebounds, but it wasn’t enough. He was spectacular.

Jayden Reid had 16 points and hit four 3-pointers.

It wasn’t enough.

With five games left in the regular season before the American Athletic Conference Tournament, it won’t be long before everyone can turn the page on a season that arguably was the most challenging in program history.

We all know why that is, so we won’t belabor that point now.

“Really proud of the effort of the guys. I thought they did a really good job of honing in on the game plan in the first half,” interim coach Ben Fletcher said on the post-game radio show.

“And give UAB credit, I thought we were in position a lot of the time. And just like they did in Tampa, man, they made some tough shots over contested hands.”

Fletcher has done an admirable job after he was dealt a nearly impossible hand. He held the program together following the death of head coach Amir Abdur-Rahim, and games like Sunday show that he has gotten just about everything this team had to give.

The Bulls trailed by just three points with 31 seconds to go. Alas, there isn’t a category in the standings to quantify the “almost but not quite” effort, so we have to go with the eye test.

The eyes had it in this one. Despite the losses piling up as the season winds down, games like this show these guys haven’t checked out.

At this point, no one knows what the future of this program will look like after this season ends. Will Fletcher be given a chance to show he can rebuild this team? Will some mainstays stampede for the transfer portal?

Those are questions without an answer at this point.

But watching them play Sunday gave a bit of hope mixed with a sense of melancholy. We saw last year what USF basketball could be, and we saw at UAB what it currently is – a outmanned team that hasn’t quit and put a scare into a superior opponent.

For this season, maybe that will have to be enough.