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CINCINNATI, Ohio -  The University of South Florida men's basketball team fell to BIG EAST Conference rival No. 25 Cincinnati Bearcats Wednesday night in front of an attendance of 6,201 at the Fifth Third Arena on Wednesday night.

Ron Anderson Jr. came off the bench and led the Bulls with a total of 13 points, 7 rebounds, a block and a steal. 

Cincinnati (15-1, 2-1) was led by Sean Kilpatrick with 18 points and Dion Dixon controlled the boards with six rebounds for the Bearcats.

USF's offense was ignited in the first half, by contributions off the bench by Anderson Jr. and Jawanza Poland who combined for 12 first-half points. USF won the first-half rebounding battle 16-14.

Cincinnati jumped out to the early 7-4 lead, but with just under 12 minutes, Anderson Jr. grabbed an offensive rebound and converted a putback to give the Bulls their first lead, 10-9. A back-and-forth battle was broken up with a 7-0 run by USF, who took the 23-19 lead with under seven minutes left in the first stanza. A 12-2 stretch by UC, with back-to-back three-balls, put the Bearcats ahead by two, a lead they would not relinquish as Cincinnati led 37-32 at the break.

Both teams shot 48 percent in the first half, with USF draining 12-of-25 shots (48.0%) and Cincinnati hitting 13-of-27 (48.1%), and the Bulls outshot the Bearcats at the free throw line 87.5 percent (7-8) to 63.6 percent (7-11). UC also hit four threes, compared to just one from USF.??

After the half, Cincinnati jumped out to a 10-point lead, but six-straight points from the Bulls brought the score within four, 56-52, and forced Cincinnati to take a time out with 7:34 left in the game. But USF was held without a field goal over the next six and a half minutes, which gave Cincinnati a chance to take an eight-point lead. With a minute left, sophomore Shaun Noriega hit a three to score his second trey of the game and USF's first bucket since the 7:28 mark.  The Bearcats finished on top, 74-66.

Cincinnati's aggressive defense forced the Bulls into 18 turnovers and UC scored 16 points from those miscues.

USF returns to the Sun Dome for a noon matchup with Providence on Sunday, Jan. 16, before hitting the road for a two-game trip to Rutgers (Jan. 20) and West Virginia (Jan. 23).

Game Notes:
- USF's starters were Anthony Crater, Shaun Noriega, Hugh Robertson, Augustus Gilchrist and Jarrid Famous.?
- USF shot a season high 87.5 percent at the free throw line. The previous high is 76.9 percent, which they tallied both against Louisville and BYU, hitting 20-of-26 in both games.?
- The Bulls are 7-22 against Cincinnati and Coach Stan Heath is 2-3 against the Bearcats.?
- USF is 11-88 against ranked teams and 1-15 against Cincinnati when the Bearcats have been ranked. Coach Stan Heath is 3-19 against ranked teams in his USF career.?
- With two treys in the second half, sophomore Shaun Noriega has hit multiple threes in three-straight games. Against Villanova he had three and vs. Louisville, he had four.?
- Ron Anderson Jr. scored 13 points, the most since playing against Texas Tech when he scored 16 points. It was the junior forward's first double-digit scoring night since playing Kent State (12/12) when he scored 10 points.?
- Senior Jarrid Famous scored in double digits for the first time since the Dec. 28 game at Seton Hall, which was his fourth-straight double-digit night, dating back to the Dec. 15 game vs. Auburn.?
- Sophomore guard Jawanza Poland scored 10 points, hitting 5-of-7 from the field and jamming a pair of monstrous dunks. Poland, who fouled out with eight minutes left in the game, has back-to-back nights of scoring in double digits after hitting Louisville for 14 on Jan. 9.?