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Bulls Beat George Mason 61-57, But Lose Pretty Much Everyone To Injuries

USF picks up their first Pyrrhic victory of the season as Anthony Collins and Victor Rudd join the wave of Bulls on the injured list.

By chuckycrater
Stan Heath holds up two fingers to indicate how many healthy players he has left during Saturday's USF-George Mason game.
Stan Heath holds up two fingers to indicate how many healthy players he has left during Saturday's USF-George Mason game.
USA TODAY Sports

The scoreboard says USF beat George Mason 61-57 on Saturday night. Considering how beaten up they are moving forward from this game, though, it may not be much of a victory in the end. Already missing Shaun Noriega and Javontae Hawkins from their lineup, USF lost another player before the game when it was revealed Kore White hurt his toe in practice and wouldn't be able to go against the Patriots.

Even without those three, the Bulls were starting to pull away from a rough-and-tumble George Mason team. They built a 12-point second half lead, but then this happened:

(That's from @bubbaprog's site, gif.mocksession.com.)

Collins stayed down on the court for several minutes, and was eventually taken off on a stretcher. The good news is that he has feeling in all of his extremities, and it sounds like the stretcher was used out of an abundance of caution. Knowing that USF pretty much has a closet full of spare Anthony Collins parts somewhere in the Sun Dome to patch him up with, I would think that even this injury won't keep him out of action for too long.

In the meantime, though, the Bulls offense struggled to put George Mason away until they finally hit 10-for-10 at the free throw line down the stretch. Unfortunately, during that stretch, Victor Rudd left with an apparent concussion. That meant USF finished the game with only seven healthy players, and there's no guarantee any of the injured Bulls will return in time for Wednesday night's game at C. Florida. Considering the Knights manhandled USF at full strength to open the season, this game could get really ugly.