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USF Men’s Basketball Wallops Wofford 69-55

The Bulls bounced back in a big way against the Terriers on Thursday.

By Nick Simon
Robert Steeg / The Daily Stampede

Having eight days to stew on a 17-point loss to IUPUI, USF men’s basketball returned to the Yuengling Center court with a purpose on Thursday and tamed the visiting Wofford Terriers for a 69-55 victory.

USF (2-2) came out firing from the field, shooting 82 percent through the first 10 minutes of action and knocking down four of their first six threes.

Leading that first half charge was junior guard Justin Brown, who scored eight of the Bulls’ first 10 points out the gate. Later in the half, the Atlanta native capped a 12-0 Green and Gold run with back-to-back treys, the latter as part of a four-point play, to push their growing lead on Wofford (2-4) out to 19. Brown finished the night with 16 points and five rebounds.

The Bulls went into the half leading the Terriers 43-28.

USF maintained control well into the second half with a steal and breakaway slam by guard David Collins capping a 9-0 run to put them up 52-28, their largest lead of the game. The visitors wouldn’t score their first points of the second half until the 13:48 mark.

Collins led the Bulls in scoring with 18 points to go along with his six rebounds, three assists and two steals. Laquincy Rideau offered 11 points and five steals.

Head coach Brian Gregory and the Bulls will now head down to Grand Cayman for the 2019 Cayman Islands Classic next week. They will open the tournament against Loyola-Chicago on Monday at 1:30 p.m. ET on FloHoops.

Notables:

  • USF had 16 points off Wofford turnovers in the first half.
  • Zack Dawson got his first start in a Bulls uniform on his 21st birthday and made the most of it, offering eight points, three boards and three assists in 26 minutes. With the season-ending injury to Alexis Yetna and Mayan Kiir leaving the program, expect more small ball lineups moving forward.
  • Nathan Hoover led the visitors with 11 points on the night and was the only Terrier to crack double-digits. Wofford has now dropped four straight and will try to claw back into the win column when heading to Maryland-Eastern Shore as part of the Hall of Fame Classic on Tuesday.