It raised a few eyebrows when USF women’s basketball coach Jose Fernandeunveiled a non-conference schedule that included two teams in last year’s Final Four and four teams currently ranked in the top 12 nationally.
And when the Bulls stumbled against that schedule, including two blowout losses, it was natural to suspect that he had made a gross mistake.
However, Fernandez and his team never lost sight of the goal. Schedule top teams, get tougher, be ready when play begins in the American Athletic Conference, and maybe grab a signature win.
On Saturday at the Yuengling Center, they got just that.
The Bulls defeated 9th-ranked Duke 65-56 and led wire-to-wire. A win like that will certainly grab the selection committee’s attention when it is time to consider teams for the NCAA Tournament.
LET’S GO BULLS!!!@USFWBB with the big time win over TOP 10 Duke!#HornsUp 🤘 pic.twitter.com/ptM6JbaDBH
— USF Athletics (@USFAthletics) December 21, 2024
“The last couple of times we've been in here (for post-game press conferences), I’ve said our record is not indicative of the team we have and the people we have in the room,” Fernandez said.
“I truly believe that if we don't play the type of schedule we play, we don't win this game today. At one point or another, you gotta have people step up and make plays, whether it's a great screen, an assist, a defensive stop, or making sure we do a great job from the free throw line. We did that today.”
How good is Duke?
Consider this: In the latest NCAA team rankings, Duke is in the top 25 in five categories: bench points per game (5th), rebounding margin (16th), field goal percentage (17th), three-point percentage (17th), assist average (19th) and scoring offense (20th).
The Blue Devils were averaging 82.8 points per game before Saturday. The Bulls held them to just 15 points in the first half.
“They're top-10 good,” Fernandez said of Duke. “But again, I think we've shown that we have played in stretches, right, 15 minutes or 25 minutes of a game. Today, it got closer. I think we played probably about 33 minutes.”
The first 20 minutes proved how good Fernandez says USF can be. The Bulls raced to a 23-point lead in the first half, but you knew Duke would not go quietly. The Blue Devils roared back in the second half, forcing USF into five turnovers in its first six possessions of the third quarter. That helped the visitors pull within three points with 9:38 to play.
They got no closer.
The game swung when Duke’s Delaney Thomas was tagged with two deliberate fouls on a single USF possession. That led to four free throws by Sammie Puisis with 6:26 to play, pushing the Bulls’ lead to 10 points.
It was more than enough.
Puisis was dominant throughout the game, scoring 23 points despite Duke’s ferocious attempt to defend against her. When the Blue Devils overplayed her on the 3-point, she scored points on short shots.
When she managed to get free from long range, she was a perfect 3-for-3, including the dagger from 3-point land with 2:32 to go. It stretched USF’s lead to 60-48, and the Bulls weren’t about to let that slip away.
She was also 8-for-8 on free throws.
“We prepared like really hard this week,” Puisis said. “Like coach said, we've had such a hard, non-conference schedule, but it's prepared us to win a game like this.
“We all love each other on this team, and we really did play for one another and played hard, and we came out really strong. So it was just really fun.”
L`or Moufu had 17 points for the Bulls to go with 11 rebounds.
USF, now 7-6, is off until December 29, when the Bulls open AAC play at Rice.
“I think when your basketball career is over 10, 15, 20 years down the road, and you're talking to your kids or your significant other, it’ll be ‘Yeah, man, I played we'd beat Duke.
“I think I enjoy coaching these types of games. It was great to see the emotion in that locker room and how much they enjoyed playing for one another. They played for one another today. That was good.”