After an impressive road win over UAB, the USF Bulls were back home for their biggest game of the year, welcoming the first-place FAU Owls to Tampa on Sunday afternoon.
A good crowd of 4,833 would see the Bulls beat their arch-rivals from across the state, 89-75, and create a logjam at the top of the AAC standings with five teams all within a game of first place.
It was another slow start for the Bulls as FAU quickly built a 7-0 lead before Izaiyah Nelson scored for USF, making it 7-2. Both teams started the game 1-for-6 on three-point attempts as nothing from beyond the arc seemed to fall for either team. Neither team could get into any rhythm offensively as both teams struggled to make baskets.
FAU slowly built the lead to five, 28-23, as turnovers once again plagued the Bulls. Josiah Parker would score inside, giving the Owls an eight-point lead, 36-28, with 1:00 to play in the half. Wes Enis would make a three point shot to make it 36-33, just the second three-pointer attempt made by the Bulls in the half, and the first made three point shot of the game by Enis. FAU would take that 36-33 lead to the locker room at halftime.
This was one of the worst shooting halves of the season for the Bulls, as they shot just 34% from the floor and made just 2-of-13 shots from three-point range. FAU was just a bit better than USF, shooting 38% from the floor and 4-of-13 from three-point range. The Bulls owned the Owls on the boards in the first half, 29-19, but had nine turnovers. CJ Brown had eight points to pace the Bulls in the first half, but also had three turnovers. FAU’s longest-tenured player, Devin Vanterpool, led the Owls with seven points.
USF coach Bryan Hodgson was not pleased with his team in the first half. “To be honest with you, just horrendous (in the first half),” he said. “I’m not gonna sugarcoat things. I thought our attention to detail was bad. I thought her pace was bad. We missed a bunch of free throws. We missed clean shots. For whatever reason, we were not great in the first half.”
“We had a little bit of a cup of Jesus meeting in the locker room at halftime, and I talked a lot of things on both sides of the ball, and credits of these guys, ’cause they went out and executed everything we asked them to in the second half.”
The Bulls took control early in the second half with Enis hitting a three-pointer as the team also took better care of the basketball, building a 42-41 lead. USF made their first seven shots of the second half to outscore FAU 20-12 to start the half and stretch the lead to 53-48, their largest lead of the game. The Bulls would build onto that lead throughout the half, playing good defense and forcing five FAU turnovers, taking a 70-60 lead with 7:30 to play.
The Bulls would go up by 15 with 6:32 left in the game on a Damien Collins two-foot jumper, and they would never be threatened the rest of the way, winning 89-75.
FAU coach John Jakus said his team lost the little battles that ultimately led to the USF win. “Our free throw margin was a minus eight,” Jakus said. “Our offensive rebound points were minus 11, which I never saw coming. Fast break points, we were minus 12. Frankly, the guys didn’t do their job.”
Wes Enis scored 19 points for the Bulls while CJ Brown added 17. Izaiyah Nelson recorded his 14th double-double of the season with 15 points and 12 rebounds. Devin Vanterpool would lead FAU and all scorers with 22 points.
One key to the USF win was taking care of the basketball. The Bulls had just one turnover in the second half after committing nine in the first half. Also, the defensive effort was outstanding for USF in the second half. It’s just the second game this season that Collins and Nelson have been on the floor together for any length of time, and that created some matchup problems for FAU.
In the past two home games, the Bulls have led with less than five minutes to play and lost both in overtime and double overtime. That was not the case Sunday as the Bulls were able to close out a very good FAU team.
Coach Hodgson was happy to get a quality win over a good opponent. “FAU is good,” Hodgson said. “Well coached. Man, they’re talented. So just really proud of these guys, to beat a really good Florida Atlantic team at home.”
Despite the loss, FAU remains in first place in the conference at 6-2, a half game ahead of USF, Tulsa, Temple, and Charlotte.
Coach Jakus expects the tape of this game will be a great learning moment for his ball club. “The cool thing about this is from the Tulane game, we got better. And I think there’s a chance from this we will get better. But we need to have a growth mindset right now.”
Next Up
The Owls will travel to Memphis to face the Tigers on Thursday night.
The Bulls will travel to New Orleans to face Tulane on Wednesday night.