Bulls Lose. By A Lot.

Even without starting junior guard Geno Thorpe on the court for the Bulls, the beginning of today’s game against the No. 19 Cincinnati Bearcats ACTUALLY looked kind of promising. These guys always look promising in the first half, so you may think “Oh, this is no surprise.” Except for the fact that they somehow ended up down by 24 points at the half, and 41 points when the game ended. Final score: Bearcats 94, Bulls 53.

A minute into play, junior center Ruben Guerrero opened scoring with a baseline jumper. USF went up 4-0, on what we could assume would probably be their largest lead of the game. But still: great start!

USF continued to play it close. THEN JAKE BODWAY HIT A THREE TO TIE THE GAME 10-10. EXCUSE MY YELLING BUT YOU CAN’T NOT GET EXCITED WHEN JAKE HITS A THREE (or any shots … or gets put in the game … etc.) JUST SAYING. Also #doublenegative.

That excitement didn’t last long. USF was held scoreless for over four minutes while Cincinnati went on a 14-0 run. Fast forward and make that a 25-5 run in a little over six minutes, and UC took a 37-17 lead. Fast forward again and make it a 39-15 run to finish the first half at 49-25.

If you’re wondering why these guys were almost doubled up in the first half, it can pretty much be attributed to turnovers. USF committed 14 to Cincinnati’s four, allowing the Bearcats to grab 18 points off turnovers.

Second half. Horrible. For example: the Bearcats went on a 24-4 run, the Bulls committed five turnovers in five minutes, had another three-minute scoreless stretch, lost by 41 points, etc.

This also happened:

And this also happened:

Other bad things:

• Jarron Cumberland played 20 minutes for the Bearcats and scored 26 points.
• 24 USF turnovers.
• Bo Zeigler fouled out for the third time this year and 11th time in his career.
• 60 bench points for Cincinnati. USF had 15.
• 34 Cincinnati points off of turnovers to USF’s seven.
• 15 Cincinnati steals to the Bulls’ two.
• USF trailed by as many as 46, which would have equaled the program’s worst loss ever (Syracuse 111-65 in 1987).

But let me not be ONLY negative. Walk-on freshman guard Henry Beard got some quality (three) minutes, subbing in halfway through the second half. Freshman forward Yito Alvarado also came in with a minute to play and got his first points as a Bull, hitting a three-pointer in the last seven seconds.

Michael Bibby led USF with a career-high 17 points, plus four rebounds and two assists. Tulio Da Silva had 10 points and eight rebounds.

The Bulls will once again look to get their first conference win on Tuesday as they host Memphis for a 7:00 p.m. tipoff.