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The Bulls managed to do just exactly what everyone has come to expect- lose another close game late. USF was down just two at halftime (and could've been leading without a nice buzzer beating three-pointer by Houston), but then had a predictably dramatic second half. Houston jumped out to a 15 point lead with about 13 min left to play, but then the Bulls went on a 23-8 run to tie it at 59-59 with 7 min left. The Bulls then cooled off at the best possible time to ensure the loss.
USF (12-18, 3-14 AAC) lost yet another game because of their embarrassingly awful three-point shooting (#350 in country). The Bulls went 1-8 from deep tonight, while Houstion went 12-23. That proved to be the difference, as just about everything else was pretty much even. Another key factor was free-throw shooting. USF shot a horrific 50% (12-24) while Houston shot 85.7% (12-14). I don't really want to get into the whole what-if game, but if the Bulls shot similar percentages to Houston in three-pointers and free-throws, they would've walked away with a win tonight.
The Bulls had two players reach double digits in scoring and you guessed it- one of them was Victor Rudd. He had a big game with 25 points, but went only 1-7 from three and 4-8 from the line. Martino Brock also had a solid game with 19 points. Freshman John Egbunu and Josh Heath both became friends with the number eight- Egbunu got 8 points and 8 rebounds while Heath got a career-best 8 assists.
Houston (16-14, 8-9 AAC) picked up a much needed win tonight. The Cougars had a solid game shooting the ball- 55% from the field, 52% from three, and 85.7% from the line. Danuel House led Houston with a very solid game with 17 points and 9 rebounds. Also having strong games were L.J. Rose and Jherrod Stiggers with 16 and 15 points, respectively.
The last game of the regular season for the Bulls is this Saturday, March 8th at the Sun Dome against Temple. This will be the last home game of Victor Rudd and Martino Brock's career. The game will be broadcasted on ESPNNews and will tip off at 2:00 PM.