• Basketball
  • USF Basketball Gets Back to Winning Ways with the Bulls Victory Against ECU, 81-70

USF Basketball Gets Back to Winning Ways with the Bulls Victory Against ECU, 81-70

Details
Basketball

Tyler Harris and Russel Tchewa combined for 34 points in the second half of a 81-70 victory for the University of South Florida Bulls on Sunday afternoon at East Carolina.

Harris finished the game with 24 points while Tchewa poured in 20 on the day. Keyshawn Bryant (10) and Sam Hines Jr. (11) each pulled down season high rebounds.

South Florida (8-10, 1-4 AAC) snapped a four-game skid in conference play with the win that saw the Bulls drop each of those contests by a combined 21 points. ECU falls to 10-9 (1-5 AAC) with the home loss.

"If we can continue to score like that, and really tighten things up on defense, we've got some good things ahead of us," said head coach Brian Gregory. "We did a better job of taking care of the ball today, did a great job on the glass, and we were able to close things out today. We got a lot of good basketball from a lot of guys up and down the roster which was good to see."

The Bulls and Pirates combined to miss their first seven shots of the contest before Selton Miguel's triple broke the scoring seal and gave USF an early lead.

Five straight field goals by the Bulls saw Ryan Conwell and Miguel again connect from downtown for a 15-11 lead at the 11:35 mark.

A four-minute scoring drought followed which saw the Pirates temporarily take a 19-17 lead, but Harris snapped the streak and North Carolina native Jake Boggs followed with a three-pointer to regain a 20-19 edge with 7:10 left in the half.

Action picked up from there with the teams trading baskets and the lead eight times before halftime.

With under a minute before the break, Conwell raced down the court for a fastbreak bucket and the lead, 32-31. The Bulls stole ECU's ensuing inbounds attempt and converted that into a basket by Tchewa to extend their advantage to 34-31 at halftime.

USF scored six-unanswered points over the final 80 seconds of the half to lead heading into the locker room.

Miguel paced the Bulls at the break with eight points and four assists. Bryant and Hines Jr. combined for 12 of USF's 17 total rebounds, including eight of nine on the offensive glass.

USF continued to lead in the opening minutes of the second half before the Pirates briefly pulled in front, 43-42, at the 15:20 mark. Harris immediately put USF back on a top with consecutive three-pointers that sparked an 8-0 run to give the Bulls a 50-43 lead with 13:56 left on the clock.

Harris' fourth three-pointer of the game gave at the 12:52 mark which gave the Bulls their biggest lead of the game, 53-43. The offense continued to roll on a 14-2 run which translated into a 56-45 advantage.

The Bulls maintained a double-digit lead until the 6:59 mark when ECU made it a 64-55 affair, but Miguel answered with a triple to stretch the lead back to 67-55.

Harris remained red-hot with his fifth three-pointer with 5:03 on the clock to pad the USF lead to 72-55 in the stretch of another 8-0 run by the Bulls.

Notable

  • USF improves to 45-16 (7-2 this season) when scoring at least 70 points under Coach Gregory.
  • Harris averaged 27.5 points over two road games this week.
  • Harris logged his fourth 20-point game of the season.
  • The Bulls shot a season-best 47.8 percent (11-23) from downtown on Sunday.

Up Next

The Bulls return to Tampa to open a two-game homestand beginning on Wednesday, January 18 against Cincinnati. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. inside the Yuengling Center.