USF Men’s Basketball Loses 56-43 to Wichita State; Bulls’ Fourth Straight Defeat

Once again, poor shooting, turnovers, and general USF-ness doomed the South Florida Bulls men’s basketball team Tuesday night as they dropped their fourth straight game 56-43 to the Wichita State Shockers inside the Yuengling Center.

“We’ve got to trust [our shooters], and throw the pass,” head coach Brian Gregory said. “Not trusting it, and forcing it isn’t helping at all. You’ve got to be able to spray that ball around when they pack the paint.”

The Bulls held Wichita State scoreless for first 5:46 of the game, but could only muster a 5-0 lead after a Michael Durr jump hook, and a Ezacuras Dawson three-pointer. USF went nearly seven full minutes between made shots in the first half, and luckily the defense kept the Bulls in the game, never letting the deficit grow to more than four.

Two free throws by David Collins late in the half gave the Bulls a 23-22 lead with 20 seconds left. But, if you’ve seen USF basketball play ever, you know WSU would come down and hit an impossible three-point attempt from very deep to take a 25-23 halftime lead.

USF continued to struggle offensively in the second half, mustering just 20 points total while the Shockers grew their lead by as many 15. The Bulls made two (2) field goals over the last 13:52 of the game.

The Bulls need to figure it out before Sunday when they travel to Houston. Game is set for a 2 p.m. tip on CBSSports Network.

Notables:

• David Collins made eight free throws bringing his career total to 368, tying him with Jeremiah Martin (Memphis) for most made FTs in AAC history.
• The Bulls shot 2-for-15 from deep today. They are 6-for-31 (19.3%) over the last two games.