Give the double feature the USF men's and women's basketball teams two thumbs for a rollicking good show.
The men rallied from seven points behind at halftime to claim a 66-58 critical road victory at Wichita State. The Bulls moved into sole possession of first place in the American Conference thanks to Tulsa's 68-63 home-court loss to UAB. The Bulls' NET ranking shot up to No. 58 with the win, while KenPom has them at No. 60.
Meanwhile, back home at the Yuengling Center, the women's team pulled away from Tulsa in the final quarter for a 72-60 win. At 8-4 in conference, USF is tied with Tulsa for third place, two games behind second-place East Carolina.
Rice remains undefeated the American at 11-0 and 21-3 overall.
"I thought we gutted it out," women's interim coach Michele Woods-Baxter said. "The. ball wasn't falling in the basket in the first half, but we picked up the momentum in the second half by pushing the ball and getting some easy baskets and some easy looks.
"It was a physical game, which was actually good for us because we're going to hit the road and we're going to play some very physical teams on the road as well."
The trip will involve visits to UTSA and Rice. The Bulls handled UTSA 70-53 on January 13 but they fell to Rice 70-68 to open conference play on December 30.
The men got sweet revenge over Wichita State after the Shockers, well, shocked the Bulls 86-85 in overtime at the Yuengling Center on January 18.
"That's a really good team," Bulls head coach Bryan Hodgson said about Wichita on the post-game radio show. "They have really good players. Our guys delivered in a big way. I'm really proud of them."
USF had to grind this one out. The Bulls played catchup after the Shockers jumped to a 10-2 lead and maintained a 33-26 halftime advantage.
However, USF's defense took over in the second half, holding Wichita to just 25 points in the final 20 minutes. That's the second-lowest second-half output by a Bulls opponent this season. The Shockers finished with just 31.7 percent from the floor and 6-for-29 (20.7 percent) from beyond the arc.
Wichita connected on just two of its last 18 field goal attempts as the swarming USF defense took over the game.
"It was just guys strapping on and guarding the second half," Hodgson said. "It took some real grit. It wasn't coaching. It was just grit by the fellas."
Guard Wes Enis led USF with his first career double-double -- 16 point and 11 rebounds.
USF's next assignment is Sunday afternoon at Florida Atlantic. The Bulls defeated the Owls 89-75 on January 25 in Tampa. FAU had entered that game in first place in the conference, but have not won since that day. An 81-73 loss Wednesday at Rice stretched the Owls' losing streak to five games.