Both South Florida men’s and women’s basketball kicked off the 2022-23 regular season from the Yuengling Center with contests versus two Ohio Valley Conference opponents in Morehead State for the women and Southeast Missouri State for the men, with only the women’s squad being able to grab a win.
The crowds were electric for both home openers tonight; a great atmosphere for the tip-off night of action.
Beyond that, it was definitely a tail of two sides for the women’s and men’s squad.
USF Women’s Basketball Recap
It was a dominant performance for South Florida’s women in their 87-40 win over Morehead State.
Defensively, especially in the first half of play, USF kept Morehead State from scoring anything, holding the OVC squad to a meager eight points in the opening half.
Beyond that, the first half featured a solid offensive performance by the Bulls, as they finished with 87 points on the evening, one of the highest scoring games for the women’s program.
The Bulls did let up in the 2nd half, as Morehead State finally found their footing, with Coach Jose Fernandez even calling the 4th quarter a “pickup game,” but the Bulls started out so strong that they never needed to look back.
The team also featured four players scoring in double digits in their first victory of the year, with the big transfer in the offseason, junior Sammie Puisis, coming in from Florida State, putting up a career-high 20 points.
Although the team slacked a bit in the second half of play, there were still more positives than negatives to take away for Fernandez’s group going forward as the team looks towards what will be a grinding non-conference schedule after the opener, featuring two as-of-now top-10 teams in Texas at #3 and NC State at #10.
The Bulls will have a few nights to regroup before returning to action on Friday and Sunday against two in-state opponents in Florida A&M and Jacksonville University.
USF Men’s Basketball Recap
The South Florida men’s team dropped their opener to Southeast Missouri State in what was a dog fight all night. In the end, the Hawks out of the OVC beat the Bulls, 64-61.
This wasn’t the most ideal performance for the Bulls, as the team struggled beyond the arc. However, the team was pretty solid in the paint, which wasn’t enough for the Bulls to grab the dub at home.
Keyshawn Bryant, the fifth year South Carolina transfer, was electric, scoring 19 points in his first USF game. However, it seemed as though when the spark was there, it was blown out by SEMO, scoring responsively to USF.
Beyond that, the team was quiet from three-point range, something that SEMO did click on and off throughout the game.
With that said, the Bulls don’t have a rebound game upcoming, as the team looks forward to a road test versus Auburn.