UConn 97, USF 51: Bulls Match Worst Loss In Program History

The USF Bulls (6-17, 0-12 American) tied a school record for the biggest margin of defeat in a game Wednesday night as UConn (11-12, 6-5 AAC) destroyed them 97-51. The 46-point margin of defeat equaled a 111-65 loss to Syracuse in 1987 and stands as USF’s worst conference loss ever.

The Bulls opened the game in a 2-3 zone (“because they can’t play man-to-man” according to the TV analyst), and UConn passed the ball around and found an open Jalen Adams for a corner three. After a traveling violation by Luis Santos, the Bulls applied half-court pressure then fell back into the zone and gave up an alley-oop, for an early 5-0 deficits. After two minutes, it was 7-0 UConn, and they didn’t look back.

The Bulls missed their first eight shots of the game before Troy Holston hit a three to cut the Huskies lead to 17-4 after less than eight minutes of play. They wouldn’t get another field goal until a Bo Zeigler layup with 8:40 left in the first half.

Somehow it wasn’t all a disaster. The Huskies went up by as much as 20 points in the first half before the Bulls were able to put together a 21-7 run to cut the lead to single digits fueled by hitting some tough shots and causing multiple UConn turnovers. The Bulls cut UConn’s lead all the way down to 31-25 before a Rodney Purvis and-1 and two three-pointers pushed the lead to 40-30 at halftime.

USF tried everything on defense. 2-3 zone? Didn’t work. 1-2-2 press? Nah. Man-to-man? LAWLZ. The Huskies went on quick 11-0 run to begin the second half, causing interim head coach Murry Bartow to use two timeouts before the under-16 media timeout. That was merely part of a 33-2 UConn streak to shatter any dreams of a comeback/competitive game/not a total embarrassment. The Huskies made an incredible 10 out of 12 threes in the second half, finishing 16-for-24 in the game.

USF missed their first 13 shots of the second half before a Michael Bibby three-pointer with 9:31 left stopped the run. Adding together the 17-1 opening run and the 33-2 streak to start the second period, the Bulls were outscored by a combined 50-3 at the beginning of each half. That’s FIFTY TO THREE. Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?

Geno Thorpe led the Bulls with 11 points, while five different Huskies scored in double figures led with Purvis’ 23. USF shot just 32%, while the Huskies shot 62%.

I’m so glad we transferred over the weekend. Otherwise we’d be pretty pissed about this game. Sandy, you can have this team back, I’ll stay with baseball.

USF has a couple of days off to get better (lol) before they face ECU at home on Saturday at 8:00 p.m. A few weeks ago we would have said they might have a chance to win this one, but not now.