Tulsa Falls to USF

Wednesday, February 15

7:00 PM

Tulsa

5-20,1-13AAC

South Florida

11-15,4-9AAC

South Fla.

Tulsa

Photo by: Campbell Rogerson

Tulsa Falls to USF

2/15/2023 10:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

GAME STATS I SEASON STATS

TULSA, Okla. –– Tulsa dropped a 96-69 decision to the South Florida Bulls Wednesday night in front of a crowd of 3,019 fans at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.

Bryant Selebangue had his 15^th game with double-digit points and rebounds and his 10^th double-double of the season with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Sam Griffin added 14 points, Brandon Betson 11 and Tim Dalger 10 for the Hurricane. USF was led by Russell Tchewa's 21 points

Tulsa (5-20, 1-13 AAC) undermanned with Keyshawn Embery-Simpson, Nikita Konstantynovskyi and Anthony Pritchard missing the contest, shot just 40-percent from the field, while the Bulls netted 62-percent of its field goals, a season-high for a Hurricane opponent.

"A very disappointing performance by us, especially from a toughness standpoint. It's something that's plagued us most of the year," said Tulsa Head Coach Eric Konkol. "Looking at South Florida – impressive physically. Lot of size and length and strong bodies, especially two through five. And then great quickness in the guard spot from (Tyler) Harris. We talked about trying to defend the two a whole lot better and they shoot 75 percent from two. And then they just take the ball from us. They had 15 steals and to me that's a sign of toughness, and they just took the ball from us. I think things that are very disappointing and things we feel like we can get better at, at least incrementally, but did not see that from our group tonight."

USF (11-15, 4-9 AAC) took a 9-0 lead early in the game before Tulsa stormed back to tie the game at 14. After the game was tied again at 24, the Bulls outscored the Hurricane in the final 10:30 of the half 26-13 for a 50-37 halftime lead.

The second half saw the visitors hold onto its double-digit advantage and take its largest lead of 34 points twice at 89-55 and 91-57.

The win was the first in the 13-game series for the Bulls as the Hurricane had won the first 12 meetings.

HOW IT HAPPENED
USF jumped out to a 9-0 start before Dalger's layup got the Hurricane on th4e scoreboard at the 17:19 mark. Two Griffin three-pointers and one from Brandon Betson knotted the score 14-14 with 15:19 left in the first half.

Tulsa took its biggest lead of the first half at 20-16 when BB Knight knocked down a three-pointer at the 13:47 mark.

From the point, the Bulls went on a 26-8 run in taking a 42-28 lead with 4:38 remaining in the half and ended the first 20 minutes with a 50-37 lead. USF's biggest first-half lead was 15 points at 40-25 as the Bulls went on a 16-1 run after the game was tied at 24 with 11:09 on the clock.

USF connected on 58-percent of its field goals in the first half, while outscoring Tulsa in the paint 22-10 and in bench scoring 22-5. The Hurricane made 42-percent overall from the field and was 41-perent from three-point range, converting on 7-of-17 treys, in the first half.

After scoring just two first-half points, Bryant Selebangue came out of halftime like a man on the mission as the junior scored eight of Tulsa's first 10 points. He ended the game with 21 points and 10 rebounds.

The Bulls held its double digit lead the entire second half and led by as many as 34 points twice.

GAME NOTES
• This was the 13^th meeting between Tulsa and USF … the series now stands at 12-1 as the Bulls won its first game in the series.
•    The loss was Tulsa's seventh straight setback
•     Freshman Jesaiah McWright made his first start in his 21^st career collegiate game.
•     Sam Griffin had his 21^st double-figure scoring game this season and the 77^th of his career.
•    Tim Dalger had his 10^th double-figure scoring game of the season and the 13^th of his career.
•    Bryant Selebangue had his 15^th double-digit scoring game and 15^th double-figure rebounding game of the season
•     It was also Selebangue's 10^th double-double of the season.

Tulsa plays at Temple in Philadelphia, Pa., Sunday afternoon for a 1 p.m. (CT) tipoff on ESPNU, before returning home next Tuesday to face the East Carolina Pirates. Game time is 7 p.m.