GoUSFBulls.com Memphis 62, Bulls 56

[Brad]

The University of South Florida men’s basketball team (6-10, 0-5 The American) was defeated 62-56 at Memphis (13-5, 3-2) on Saturday evening. 

The Bulls rallied from a 16 point deficit midway through the second half, and trailed by just two points with 1:37 to play. 

Freshman forward Malik Fitts (Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.) tied his career-high with 12 points, all in the second half. Junior guard Geno Thorpe (Pittsburgh) also netted 12 points for USF as well. 

Game summary will be emailed shortly. 

The Bulls’ next game will be at UCF on Tuesday in another installment of the War-on-I4 rivalry. Tip is set for 7 p.m.

 

Box score is attached.

 

011417MemphisBook.pdf

[Brad]

USF ATHLETICS

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Box Score: http://bit.ly/2jKAXz4

Bulls’ Big Rally Comes Up Just Short at Memphis

Freshman forward Malik Fitts tallied a career high tying 12 points, all in the second half

MEMPHIS, Tenn., JAN. 14, 2017 – Trailing by as many as 16 points midway through the second half, the University of South Florida men’s basketball team rallied to within two points late but the Memphis Tigers withstood the Bulls’ surge in the waning moments for a 62-56 win on Saturday night.

USF (6-10, 0-5 The American) received a career high tying 12 points from freshman forward Malik Fitts (Rancho Cucamonga, Fla.), all of which came in the second half, as USF brought themselves to within one possession at the 2:11 mark. That was when junior center Ruben Guerrero (Spain) completed a dunk as he was fouled and then made the following free throw to put the Bulls down 56-54. 

Memphis’ (13-5, 3-2) next possession resulted in no points after a missed free throw but the Tigers forced a steal on the next USF possession. Memphis secured the victory with five converted free throws in the final 44 seconds to thwart USF’s comeback bid. 

The Bulls started the contest with an ambush, going ahead of the Tigers 7-0 in just the first 1:18 of the game. 

The Tigers would chip away at the deficit and also assemble seven straight points to take their first advantage, 18-16, at the 8:30 junction. Memphis built the lead up to eight, 30-22, going into halftime.

The difference continued to grow after the break until the Bulls rallied back with a 7-0 run midway through the half.  Fitts’ second half hot streak mixed with Guerrero’s seven points after halftime were key in USF’s rally.

Memphis was piloted by junior guard Markel Crawford, who posted a game-high 30 points. 

Quotable
Interim head coach Murry Bartow on the Bulls’ comeback:
“We fought hard and I am incredibly proud of our guys. Great energy, great enthusiasm, the bench was engaged and we got a lot of good play out of a lot of guys. We lose by six, we had our chances there late, but didn’t execute some things maybe in the last couple minutes on some of those late game situations.”

Coach Bartow on the growth of his team: 
“I am really, really proud of the effort. We are getting better and one of these days it will show up on the scoreboard.” 

Key Stat
•    The Bulls nearly overcame a 16 point deficit and a season-high 22 turnovers at Memphis.
    
Notables
•    USF compiled 10 steals for the second straight game and fourth time this season.
•    Fitts tallied 12 points on 5-of-6 shooting in the second half. He missed his only field goal attempt in the first half.
•    Junior guard Geno Thorpe (Pittsburgh) also posted a team-high 12 points. His four steals established a new career-high.
•    The Bulls matched a season-high with eight blocks (Delaware, 12/22), including a season-best four rejections from Guerrero. 
•    Guerrero passed Augustus Gilchrist (2008-12) with his first block of the night, moving him into sole possession of the seventh most blocks in program history (106). 
•    Sophomore forward Luis Santos (Bronx, N.Y.) finished with three points and seven rebounds. He set a career high with three steals and tied a career-best with two blocks. 
•    USF committed 21 fouls compared to eight for Memphis.
•    Both teams his six, three-pointers in the contest. 
•    The game was witnessed by 11,955 fans, a season-high for USF.

Up Next
The Bulls will play the second of back-to-back road games at UCF on Tuesday at 7 p.m. 
USF returns home to host Tulsa on Jan. 21 at 1 p.m. Reserve your seats at USFBullsTix.com. Fans out of town can catch the game on ESPNU.

About USF Men’s Basketball
The USF men’s basketball team is led by interim head coach Murry Bartow. Coach Bartow has served as a collegiate basketball coach for 30 seasons and boasts eight postseason tournaments, including four NCAA Tournaments.
 

[mellobull]

Losing by 6 on the road counts as a win

[Brad]

Key Stat
•    The Bulls nearly overcame a 16 point deficit and a season-high 22 turnovers at Memphis.

 

Fix this and we have a chance.

 

[CousinRicky]

7 hours ago, Brad said:

Key Stat
•    The Bulls nearly overcame a 16 point deficit and a season-high 22 turnovers at Memphis.

 

Fix this and we have a chance.

 

Make 4 of those missed layups and we win.

[raptorcj]

That's a heck of a fight, I like there's still some fire there this season.

[Brad]

13 hours ago, Bourbon Bull said:

Make 4 of those missed layups and we win.

All about fundamentals.  Had they shot 20 FTs there would have been another key to winning there when you're shooting just 63% or so from the stripe.

Bulls Basketball, land of opportunity.