USF wrapped up its regular season at home Sunday afternoon by beating the Charlotte 49ers 83-60. The Bulls have closed the regular season winning nine straight games.
It was Senior Day in Tampa and USF honored its seniors, including Isiah Jones, Devin Haid, Joseph Pinion, Damien Collins, Josh Omojafo and Izaiyah Nelson before tip-off.
The largest crowd of the season (6,708) turned up to honor the seniors and witness the Bulls being presented the AAC championship trophy and the team cutting down the nets.
As USF was honoring its seniors, Coach Bryan Hodgson said that this group has been “the best group I’ve been around in 18 years.”
Their presence has certainly been felt this season, as they have been major contributors to the Bulls’ conference championship and 23-8 record.
Game Recap
Arden Conyers would score first for Charlotte as the 49ers took an early 2-0 lead at 17:21 of the first half. Charlotte would build the lead to 8-1 before Wes Enis hit a three-point shot to make it an 8-4 game.
Charlotte would win the battle of the boards, holding a 7-2 advantage early in the game, as the 49ers maintained a 17-13 lead with 11:26 to play in the half.
USF would take its first lead at the 10:24 mark of the half as Isiah Jones hit a three-point shot to put the Bulls up 19-17. USF would then go to work defensively, forcing a Charlotte turnover, and a layup by CJ Brown put USF up 21-17.
Another Enis three-pointer would give USF a six-point lead, 30-24, at 5:43 of the half, while the Bulls’ defense held Charlotte to 0/4 shooting.
Some tenacious defense, good rebounding, and some three-point shooting from Enis and Joe Pinion would give USF its biggest lead of the game at the half, 44-29.
Enis had 12 points in the first half. He broke USF’s program record for three-point shots made in a single season with 98, breaking the record held by Tyler Harris, who made 96 in the 2023-24 season.
“Yeah, it’s great, we are all very appreciative of our teammates,” Enis said about getting his name in the record books. “Our teammates trust us, and the coaching staff, trusting you to shoot the ball. So it’s just, it’s a great feeling.”
Joe Pinion, who had 11 points in the first half, including two three-point shots, made his 200th career three-point shot, helping the Bulls to a 15-point halftime lead.
Pinion and Enis both finished the season with 100 three-pointers made, just the second duo in NCAA history to accomplish that feat.
The two teams traded baskets throughout the first part of the second half, with USF maintained a 58-41 lead with 11:51 to play. That was all part of a 20-2 USF run, propelled by forcing two Charlotte turnovers and forcing the 49ers into taking poor shots. Charlotte even airballed on three consecutive possessions.
The Bulls took a commanding 72-41 lead with 7:25 to play as their defense held the 49ers to 1/16 shooting over eight minutes. USF would continue to throttle the Charlotte attack as the 49ers had trouble maintaining any momentum, losing 83-60.
This USF team has only gotten better as the season has gone on. Hodgson has repeatedly stated that the Bulls need to be playing their best basketball in March, and they are certainly doing that. USF will be a handful for any team they face in tournament play.
“Yeah, I think we’re playing our best basketball right now,” Izaiyah Nelson said. “Coach talks about getting one percent better every day, not looking too far ahead, just taking one day at a time.”
Hodgson talked about his team playing their best basketball right now.
“We just keep getting better and better because of our approach, and it’s these young men, they made sacrifices for something bigger than themselves,” he said.
Hodgson feels that the tough non-conference schedule prepared USF for March basketball.
“We didn’t have to go play at Alabama,” he said. “I didn’t have to play Oklahoma State. I could have bought a couple more games here and walked into conference play, undefeated, and felt like we were on top of the world, and we didn’t do that, and those losses early put us in a position that we’re in now.”
The Bulls ended one of their most successful regular seasons, finishing 23-8 overall and 15-3 in the American Conference. The 23 wins are just two shy of the school record set in the 23-24 season, when the Bulls finished 25-8.
Next Up
USF will have a six-day layoff before its first game in the American Athletic Conference Tournament, which takes place in Birmingham.
The Bulls, by winning the regular season crown in the AAC, earned an automatic bid to the semi-finals and will not play until Saturday against a yet-to-be-determined opponent.