SOUTH BEND, Ind.- Stan Heath said a little Notre Dame and a lot of USF contributed to the Bulls' 60-49 loss Tuesday night in South Bend, Ind.

USF shot 38 percent, including 1-for-13 from 3-point range, before seeing its two-game Big East winning streak come to an end while Notre Dame extended its home winning streak to 29 games at Purcell Pavilion.

"We had some layups and open shots, and against a team like Notre Dame you need to make them. We didn't tonight," said Heath after his team fell to 9-8, 2-2 in the conference.

Augustus Gilchrist scored a team-high 13 points for the Bulls and Jawanza Poland had 12 points off the bench - four more than the entire total from other non-starters. Ron Anderson Jr. had six points and 10 rebounds in a reserve role.

"Poland was kind of the Lone Ranger when it comes to our bench play tonight, except for Anderson," Heath said. "I think that's the strength of our team. For us to be effective, our bench play has to be very productive in games for us."

Jack Cooley posted a team-high 16 points for Notre Dame (11-6, 3-1) and the Irish got 15 more from Scott Martin, who also had 13 rebounds.

"(Martin) played well against us last year and he was in a little bit of a slump and he broke out of it tonight. Cooley was effective as well," Heath said.

USF trailed, 30-24, at the half and cut its deficit to three on two free throws by Shaun Noriega with 9:18 remaining, but the Irish followed with a 14-0 run to put the game away.

"Once they stretched the lead out and kind of went into a little bit of a burn and milked the clock," Heath said. "It was almost like you were down by 20 instead of being down eight."

Point guard Anthony Collins started a game after missing the second half of a 74-57 win over Villanova last Tuesday because of a head injury. The freshman scored six points and added three assists.

USF looks to get back on track at home 7 p.m. Friday against Seton Hall at the Tampa Bay Times Forum.