Inept First Half Dooms USF Men’s Basketball Versus Tulsa, Lose 56-48

Despite turning the ball over 13 times, and scoring just 11 points in the first half, the USF men’s basketball team did everything they could in the second half to complete the comeback, but fell short 56-48 versus Tulsa on Saturday afternoon inside the Yuengling Center.

“We were not as ball strong [in the first half] as you need to be,” head coach Brian Gregory said. “We weren’t as sharp. We didn’t cut as hard, we didn’t drive with strength. It’s a challenge [when] you spill everything on Wednesday night [vs. Houston] to be able to bounce back with the same energy, same effort level, same focus that you had.”

The Bulls took an early 3-0 lead before it saw the turnover bug and missed shots take over in the half. Seven Bulls had at least one turnover in the first half, and as a team had over double the amount of turnovers (13) as made field goals (5).

In the second half, the Bulls were able to string together a 10-0 run to cut the deficit to four points with 12:51 left in the half. That was as close as USF would get. The Bulls missed multiple good looks from three that would’ve cut the Golden Hurricane lead to one.

USF will travel to Wichita State on Thursday. Tip is set for 7 p.m. on CBS Sports Network.

Notables

• David Collins had a team-high 14 points
• Laquincy Rideau and Justin Brown each had 10 points.
• The Bulls held Tulsa’s Martins Igbanu to just eight points. He had scored at 24 points in four of his previous five games, including lighting up C. Florida for a 30 burger on February 9th.