David Collins Powers USF Men’s Basketball to 73-62 Win Over Stetson

After a week off due to a canceled game, the South Florida Bulls men’s basketball team was back in action on Tuesday, and came away with a 73-62 victory over the Stetson Hatters inside the Yuengling Center.

Senior guard David Collins responded to coming off the bench in last week’s win over FGCU with authority as he scored a game-high 18 points, and added nine rebounds, and four assists.

Justin Brown (14 points), Alexis Yetna (13 points), and Caleb Murphy (12 points) joined Collins in double figures. Yetna added eight rebounds, and Murphy chipped in six assists.

After a slow start that saw the Bulls down by seven halfway through the first half, USF used a 28-10 run over the last 10:27 of the to take a 40-26 lead into the break.

Jamir Chaplin came off the bench to score nine points, including a buzzer-beating three before the half ended to cap the run. The rest of the Bulls bench scored two points, and shot 1-for-10.

While the game was never in doubt, the Bulls struggled with turnovers, and free throws that allowed the Hatters (0-4) to hang around for most of the second half. USF led by as many as 21 in the second half, before Stetson chipped away at the lead.

The Bulls (3-2) were awful from the free throw line again. They were 13-for-24 from the line, and they’re shooting a measly 61% from the stripe on the season.

Barring another game being scheduled, USF will wrap up their nonconference slate when they travel to Atlanta to face LSU on Saturday as part of Holiday Hoopsgiving inside State Farm Arena.