Toarlyn Fitzpatrick had a career high 25 points and Hugh Robertson grabbed 21 rebounds as the USF Bulls (6-4) took care of the Florida A&M Rattlers (2-8) 83-59 today at the University of Tampa's Bob Martinez Center. For a variety of reasons, the Bulls were down to seven scholarship players today, but thankfully USF was taking on one of the worst teams in Division 1.
With Ron Anderson Jr. extremely limited (3 minutes total) and Victor Rudd starting on the bench due to strep throat, Fitzpatrick and Hugh Robertson each stepped in and had a monster game. Fitzpatrick put on a dominant performance on the offensive end, going 11-16 from the field, including 3-4 from three. He gave the FAMU posts trouble all day with his ability to score from anywhere on the court, and was able to do whatever he wanted to on the court.
Hugh Robertson was a maniac on the court, almost outrebounding the Rattlers by himself. His 9 offensive rebounds helped pace the Bulls with 20 second chance points. Hugh's 21 rebounds was a career high by a large margin, and it was the most rebounds by a USF player since Kentrell Gransberry grabbed 23 boards against Seton Hall in 2007 (h/t Greg Auman for that stat).
Some thoughts from the game:
- With LaVonte Dority leaving the program (more on this tomorrow), it definitely shifted the minutes around. Shaun Noriega was moved into the starting lineup and had a solid game, scoring 11 points on 4-9 shooting. Blake Nash will be forced to play more as the backup to Anthony Collins, especially with Jawanza Poland ready to jump into the rotation on the wing next week.
- Speaking of Collins, once again he had a solid game running the offense. On the night Collins went for 10 PTS/8 REB/3 STL while successfully breaking the FAMU pressure all night. Collins is attacking the rim, and is consistently making the correct decision every time either by scoring it himself or finding the open man for a quality look. He's still learning, but each game he's getting better. His 4.0 A/T ratio is superb and there isn't much else that I can ask from him right now. Keep it up big guy.
- With FAMU forcing 19 turnovers a game, it was great to the Bulls take care of the ball and only turn it over 7 times on the night. Lesser teams can't punch above their weight without forcing mistakes like that.
- Also good to see the Bulls dominate on the glass. USF had a 42-29 rebounding edge, and it showed with the Bulls taking 13 more shot attempts on the night.
- One sour note. MAKE YOUR FREE THROWS! You can't go 10-19 from the charity stripe in close games.
The Bulls next head up to Auburn to take on the Tigers on Wednesday at 9:00 PM.