Throughout program history, USF has matched up with Rice only a single time… nearly 30 years ago in 1997. Now, in Rice’s inaugural season with the American Conference, the two teams met on Friday night for the first time as conference opponents in a great game that marks the start of multiple years of matchups.
Rice started the first half well, getting off to an early 7-0 lead within the first couple of minutes. USF guard, Kobe Knox, responded by converting on two layup attempts in quick succession. These layups would mark the beginning of a strong first half for Knox on the Bulls offense.
Up until the midway mark of the first half, the two teams played evenly, trading scoring possessions back and forth. USF attained their first lead of the night off an electric dunk from guard Kasean Pryor, which put the Bulls ahead 17-16. After losing the lead, Rice regained focus and proceeded to go on a 12 point scoring run which left the Bulls well behind 28-17.
USF broke their scoring drought through way of a successful three-point shot by guard, Chris Youngblood, who is the team’s leading scorer on the season. Amidst strong defense from the Owls, USF slowly began creeping their way back into the game. While the Bulls were only able to cut down their 12 point deficit by three points going into halftime, they gained the momentum going into the locker room off a three-point shot from Kobe Knox as the clock expired. The half ended with a Rice lead by a score of 40-31.
As the second half started, both teams found themselves locked in an offensive battle, with both sides scoring frequently on their respective possessions. Kasean Pryor was the star player of the second half, as he converted multiple field goals and free throws to keep pace with the Owls early on.
As the halfway mark of the second half neared, USF finally found themselves on a strong run of their own. Kasean Pryor continued a strong performance by adding multiple layups to the Bulls’ point total. The momentum then completely flipped towards the USF side when guard Selton Miguel threw down a dunk that lit up the Yuengling Center which was followed by two made free throws from Chris Youngblood to cut down the Rice lead to five at 62-57.
After another three for Rice, Kasean Pryor took the game into his own hands, scoring 19 straight points for the Bulls. He scored on a breakaway dunk that brought the Rice lead to 66-64 as the game ran towards four minutes remaining. Four free throws later and a great second effort on a layup (all by Pryor) brought USF ahead yet again at 70-68 with two minutes remaining. Pryor continued his scoring rampage in the final two minutes by adding another eight to the USF score which brought the Bulls’ lead to 78-71 in a stunning individual second half performance.
USF finished off their incredible comeback by a score of 81-73… putting up 50 of those points in the second half. Kasean Pryor was undoubtedly the standout player in the win as he totaled 29 points. The Bulls continue an incredible run as they have now won seven of their last eight games, and now find themselves with a 9-5 overall record and at 2-1 in conference play on the year.
USF will now look forward to next week as they prepare for their biggest matchup of the season against 13th ranked Memphis.