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USF battled a pair of NCAA Final Four teams to overtime this season, defeating Virginia Commonwealth, 60-59 in Tampa and coming up short, 66-61, to National Champion UConn in Hartford. The Bulls also took Sweet 16 team BYU to double overtime (77-75) and just lost by one point, 59-58, to Sweet 16 Marquette.
In the First Round of the BIG EAST Basketball Championship, No. 15-seed USF overcame a 16-point first-half deficit to upset No. 10-seed Villanova, 70-69. The Bulls trailed 49-33 at halftime, making the 16-point comeback the largest halftime deficit overcome in BIG EAST Championship history. It was also USF's first victory over Villanova and USF's second-straight first-round win in the tournament.
USF led the conference in free throw shooting this season, hitting 74.3 percent (248-334) in BIG EAST play. The Bulls' best night was an 88.9 percent (8-of-9) night against No. 9 Georgetown. Against DePaul on Jan. 27, the Bulls hit 12-of-12 in the first half and finished the night 17-of-21. The Bulls shot better than 70 percent in all but four league games this year.
USF's strength was on the boards this season, tying or outrebounding 24 of its 33 opponents. The Bulls finished the season ranked 89th in the NCAA in rebound margin (2.7) averaging 35.4 boards per game.
USF ended the season with the 17th strongest schedule in the country, according to CollegeRPI.com.
The Bulls' defense held eight of the league's top 10 scoring opponents below their season average during the regular season. USF also ended the regular season by holding eight of its last 11 opponents under their scoring average. The largest margin was on Feb. 9 when USF held Marquette to just 59 points, which was 20.3 points less than their then-BIG EAST-leading 79.3 points per game.
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