Saturday, January 18
Tampa, Fla
2 p.m.
Tulsa
56
at
63
South Florida
Late South Florida Run Drops Tulsa
1/18/2025 5:26:00 PM | Men's Basketball
TAMPA, Fla. – The Golden Hurricane men's basketball team was outscored 19-2 in the final five minutes as Tulsa fell 63-56 to the South Florida Bulls at the Yuengling Center on Saturday afternoon.
Tulsa falls to 8-10 on the season and 2-3 in The American play, snapping a two-game winning streak in the conference. South Florida improves to 10-8 and 3-2 in league play and got off a two-game slide to get back in the win column.
Leading 54-44 with 4:53 remaining in the contest, Tulsa would score just once more on a Justin Amadi putback dunk. During the final stretch, the Hurricane turned it over six times, missed three free throws and went 1-6 from the floor.
For the game, the Hurricane turned it over 15 times, contributing to 20 South Florida points. While the Bulls turned it over 11 times for eight TU points. Tulsa shot better from the field, 39.6 to 35.5 percent, and 3-point range, 23.8 to 11.1 percent, though neither team had a particularly strong shooting performance. Tulsa knocked down five 3-pointers to South Florida's two, but the second came at an opportune time to put the Bulls ahead five with 25 seconds remaining.
Issues at the foul line extended throughout the game for Tulsa and loomed large in the final box score. Tulsa went just 9-of-22 (40.9 percent) from the charity stripe, while South Florida converted 17-of-25 (68.0). The Bulls won the battle of the boards 46-19, including a 16-10 advantage in offensive rebounds.
Amadi and Keaston Willis led Tulsa in scoring, recording 14 and 12 points, respectively. Dwon Odom added nine points and was just shy of another double-double as he dished out 10 assists for the second time in three games. To go with his team-leading points, Amadi also led the Hurricane on the glass with seven boards, two ahead of Jared Garcia, who finished his second game with six points and five rebounds.
The Bulls had four in double figures, led by 16 from CJ Brown. Kobe Knox added 12 off the bench, and Jayden Reid and De'Ante Green each scored 11. Green led the team with eight rebounds.
HOW IT HAPPENED
IN THE FIRST HALF…
Justin Amadi had Tulsa's first five points in the contest, opening the Hurricane scoring with a dunk off a Jesaiah McWright steal and Dwon Odom assist.
TU led 5-4 at the first media timeout at the 15:21 mark. After an Odom baseline dunk put Tulsa ahead 7-6, the Bulls scored seven straight to take a 13-7 advantage. The hosts eventually pushed the lead to nine, 22-13, forcing a timeout with 7:41 remaining in the half.
The Hurricane responded in a big way, limiting the Bulls ot just three points the rest of the half while scoring 17 of its own to take a 30-25 lead to the locker room. After an Amadi free throw, Keaston Willis got the run truly going with his first 3-pointer of the afternoon.
Willis recorded a steal and found Tyshawn for the bucket to get the deficit to five. Then Jared Garcia scored his first points of the game, followed by splitting a pair of free throws. On the miss, Odom pulled down the offensive rebound and then knocked down a jumper to even the score at 24 with 2:28 in the half.
After a defensive stop, Odom found Garcia for the knockdown 3-pointer and TU had its first lead since the early goings, 27-24. Willis got another steal and McWright found freshman Ian Smikle to extend Tulsa's lead to 29-24. The half would end with both teams splitting a pair of free throws.
Amadi, Odom and Garcia each had six points in the first half to lead Tulsa. The Hurricane shot 42.3 percent from the floor and made two 3-pointers.
IN THE SECOND HALF …
The challenge in the second half was keeping the Bulls from making one big run, a task the Hurricane seemed up to until late in the ballgame.
Amadi had the first points of the second half to push the lead to seven, but Tulsa never held a truly comfortable lead on Saturday.
The Tulsa lead would drop to two multiple times in the period, but the Hurricane would respond each time. Willis and Odom finally gave Tulsa a bit of breathing room with the team's first 3-pointer of the second half and then a pullup jumper to take a 46-39 lead with nine minutes to play.
Leading by five out of the ensuing media timeout, Willis again found the basket from 3-point range and Tulsa's lead was eight. TU went on to push the lead to 10 twice, lastly on an Amadi layup from a full court feed from Odom to give Tulsa a 54-44 advantage with 5:05 left.
From there it was all South Florida. Tulsa struggled in all facets down the stretch as the Hurricane shot 1-of-6, turned it over six times and missed three free throws down the stretch. Meanwhile, the Bulls found their footing on offense and fed into the crowd's energy as part of a 19-2 run to close out the game, making all four of its final four field goal attempts.
A Knox second chance layup with 1:26 remaining put South Florida up for good, 55-54. A steal on the next possession led to a traditional 3-point play and a four-point lead. Tulsa cut back to a one-possession game with a putback dunk from Amadi, but Knox responded for the Bulls with a big 3-pointer, only South Florida's second make of the game.
Another steal led to a dunk, which would serve as the final basket of the 63-56 game.
The Hurricane shot just 37 percent in the second half and 25 percent (3-of-12) from 3-point range. Tulsa also had issues at the foul line, hitting just 3-of-9 (33.3 percent) form the charity stripe. Willis scored nine of his points and Amadi added eight in the second period.
GAME NOTES
• Tulsa impis now 13-4 against the Bulls and 6-3 in Tampa.
• Tulsa is 7-2 this season when leading at the half.
• Braeden Carrington missed the game with an injury sustained midway through the second half at UTSA, his second straight game.
• Isaiah Barnes made his return to the lineup after missing the past seven games.
• Keaston Willis scored in double figures for the 12th time this season and 98th in his
career.
• This was Amadi's 2nd double-figure scoring game of the season.
• Dwon Odom dished out 10 assists for the second time in three games.
• This was Tulsa's worst free throw shooting performance of the season.
The Golden Hurricane has quick turnaround as Tulsa heads home to face East Carolina in the Donald W. Reynolds Center on Tuesday. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. and will air on ESPN+.
Tulsa falls to 8-10 on the season and 2-3 in The American play, snapping a two-game winning streak in the conference. South Florida improves to 10-8 and 3-2 in league play and got off a two-game slide to get back in the win column.
Leading 54-44 with 4:53 remaining in the contest, Tulsa would score just once more on a Justin Amadi putback dunk. During the final stretch, the Hurricane turned it over six times, missed three free throws and went 1-6 from the floor.
For the game, the Hurricane turned it over 15 times, contributing to 20 South Florida points. While the Bulls turned it over 11 times for eight TU points. Tulsa shot better from the field, 39.6 to 35.5 percent, and 3-point range, 23.8 to 11.1 percent, though neither team had a particularly strong shooting performance. Tulsa knocked down five 3-pointers to South Florida's two, but the second came at an opportune time to put the Bulls ahead five with 25 seconds remaining.
Issues at the foul line extended throughout the game for Tulsa and loomed large in the final box score. Tulsa went just 9-of-22 (40.9 percent) from the charity stripe, while South Florida converted 17-of-25 (68.0). The Bulls won the battle of the boards 46-19, including a 16-10 advantage in offensive rebounds.
Amadi and Keaston Willis led Tulsa in scoring, recording 14 and 12 points, respectively. Dwon Odom added nine points and was just shy of another double-double as he dished out 10 assists for the second time in three games. To go with his team-leading points, Amadi also led the Hurricane on the glass with seven boards, two ahead of Jared Garcia, who finished his second game with six points and five rebounds.
The Bulls had four in double figures, led by 16 from CJ Brown. Kobe Knox added 12 off the bench, and Jayden Reid and De'Ante Green each scored 11. Green led the team with eight rebounds.
HOW IT HAPPENED
IN THE FIRST HALF…
Justin Amadi had Tulsa's first five points in the contest, opening the Hurricane scoring with a dunk off a Jesaiah McWright steal and Dwon Odom assist.
TU led 5-4 at the first media timeout at the 15:21 mark. After an Odom baseline dunk put Tulsa ahead 7-6, the Bulls scored seven straight to take a 13-7 advantage. The hosts eventually pushed the lead to nine, 22-13, forcing a timeout with 7:41 remaining in the half.
The Hurricane responded in a big way, limiting the Bulls ot just three points the rest of the half while scoring 17 of its own to take a 30-25 lead to the locker room. After an Amadi free throw, Keaston Willis got the run truly going with his first 3-pointer of the afternoon.
Willis recorded a steal and found Tyshawn for the bucket to get the deficit to five. Then Jared Garcia scored his first points of the game, followed by splitting a pair of free throws. On the miss, Odom pulled down the offensive rebound and then knocked down a jumper to even the score at 24 with 2:28 in the half.
After a defensive stop, Odom found Garcia for the knockdown 3-pointer and TU had its first lead since the early goings, 27-24. Willis got another steal and McWright found freshman Ian Smikle to extend Tulsa's lead to 29-24. The half would end with both teams splitting a pair of free throws.
Amadi, Odom and Garcia each had six points in the first half to lead Tulsa. The Hurricane shot 42.3 percent from the floor and made two 3-pointers.
IN THE SECOND HALF …
The challenge in the second half was keeping the Bulls from making one big run, a task the Hurricane seemed up to until late in the ballgame.
Amadi had the first points of the second half to push the lead to seven, but Tulsa never held a truly comfortable lead on Saturday.
The Tulsa lead would drop to two multiple times in the period, but the Hurricane would respond each time. Willis and Odom finally gave Tulsa a bit of breathing room with the team's first 3-pointer of the second half and then a pullup jumper to take a 46-39 lead with nine minutes to play.
Leading by five out of the ensuing media timeout, Willis again found the basket from 3-point range and Tulsa's lead was eight. TU went on to push the lead to 10 twice, lastly on an Amadi layup from a full court feed from Odom to give Tulsa a 54-44 advantage with 5:05 left.
From there it was all South Florida. Tulsa struggled in all facets down the stretch as the Hurricane shot 1-of-6, turned it over six times and missed three free throws down the stretch. Meanwhile, the Bulls found their footing on offense and fed into the crowd's energy as part of a 19-2 run to close out the game, making all four of its final four field goal attempts.
A Knox second chance layup with 1:26 remaining put South Florida up for good, 55-54. A steal on the next possession led to a traditional 3-point play and a four-point lead. Tulsa cut back to a one-possession game with a putback dunk from Amadi, but Knox responded for the Bulls with a big 3-pointer, only South Florida's second make of the game.
Another steal led to a dunk, which would serve as the final basket of the 63-56 game.
The Hurricane shot just 37 percent in the second half and 25 percent (3-of-12) from 3-point range. Tulsa also had issues at the foul line, hitting just 3-of-9 (33.3 percent) form the charity stripe. Willis scored nine of his points and Amadi added eight in the second period.
GAME NOTES
• Tulsa impis now 13-4 against the Bulls and 6-3 in Tampa.
• Tulsa is 7-2 this season when leading at the half.
• Braeden Carrington missed the game with an injury sustained midway through the second half at UTSA, his second straight game.
• Isaiah Barnes made his return to the lineup after missing the past seven games.
• Keaston Willis scored in double figures for the 12th time this season and 98th in his
career.
• This was Amadi's 2nd double-figure scoring game of the season.
• Dwon Odom dished out 10 assists for the second time in three games.
• This was Tulsa's worst free throw shooting performance of the season.
The Golden Hurricane has quick turnaround as Tulsa heads home to face East Carolina in the Donald W. Reynolds Center on Tuesday. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. and will air on ESPN+.
Players Mentioned
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