Bulls Deliver A Swift Kick

[Papa_Bull]

Bulls Deliver A Swift Kick

By BRETT McMURPHY bmcmurphy@tampatrib.com

Published: Feb 21, 2005

 

TAMPA - South Florida senior Brian Swift spent the past few days questioning his teammates' heart. He even challenged their manhood.

Saturday, Swift backed up his talk as the Bulls downed East Carolina 60-50 at the Sun Dome.

``I didn't feel any added pressure, more of the pressure was on the team as a whole than myself,'' Swift said. ``We knew the importance of this game. We had to win. It was a team effort for us to get a win. Tonight I think the guys stepped up, really fed off what I said and the guys made some plays.''

Although USF's final home game isn't until March 5, the Bulls celebrated Senior Night two weeks early.

Swift (17 points, six assists) along with fellow seniors Terrence Leather (23 points, 14 rebounds) and Marlyn Bryant (13 points, 11 rebounds) carried the Bulls. USF's senior triplets accounted for 53 of USF's 60 points, 27 of 39 rebounds, nine of 10 assists and, hey, even 12 of USF's 16 turnovers.

``Brian said what needed to be said, some players needed to hear it,'' said Leather, who moved past Penny Greene into 13th place on USF's career scoring list. ``As a leader, you know what your teammates can do. When they're not performing to that level, why not call some of them out.

``That put a switch on, put a light on in some of the players' heads to come out and step it up. I had no problem with it.''

The victory moved USF (11-13, 4-9) into 11th place in Conference USA, where only the top 12 teams advance to the league tournament in Memphis, Tenn.

``We came out with a sense of urgency,'' said Bryant, who had his second career double-double. ``We knew the consequences if we lost this game and we knew what happened if we won. Everybody in the locker room realizes our goal was to make it to Memphis. In order to do so, we had to win this game.''

The victory also gave the Bulls the all-important tiebreaker advantages if they finish tied with either ECU (8-17, 3-10) or Tulane (9-14, 3-9) or in a three-way tie with the Green Wave and Pirates.

The Bulls turned a 28-24 halftime lead into a 49-36 advantage as the Pirates opened the second half missing 18 of 20 shots. ECU pulled within 53-48 with 2:33 remaining, but the Bulls hit seven of their final 10 free throws.

The Pirates finished 30.9 percent from the field, including 10 percent (1-for-10) from 3-point range.

``Defensively we were outstanding,'' USF coach Robert McCullum said.

McCullum added he thought USF's three seniors ``played well.''

``They made baskets when we needed to make baskets,'' McCullum said. ``But this was by no means an outstanding offensive performance.''

The Bulls shot 41 percent, the fourth consecutive game they finished below 46 percent from the field.

``We didn't pull any punches in terms of how important this game was,'' McCullum said. ``For the seniors, the way the season has gone the way it has, that's the least you can hope for - for your seniors to finish the season advancing to the conference tournament.

``You get there there's no pressure on you, you weren't expected to get there. We were picked last in the league, I remind you, before we even learned of Bradley Mosley's situation. I said then I never thought we'd finish last.''

http://bulls.tbo.com/bulls/MGB3IFNTE5E.html

[Bull Matrix]

All the Darksiders have to do is read that last paragraph to realise that they sound pretty stupid right now. How can anyone criticize a coach that is exceding expectations by not finishing in last place?? Hell, Seth was expected to make the BIG DANCE, yet some of you DarkSiders fail to criticize Seth's failures to meet expectations.