PHILADELPHIA- The Bulls showed how dangerous they can be in the Big East on Thursday night.
Jawanza Poland tied a career high with 20 points and Blake Nash took over in the second half to help the USF men's basketball team hand Villanova a 74-57 loss in Philadelphia.
Poland scored 13 points in the second half as USF (9-7) improved to 2-1 in Big East play this season and earned its first road win.
"Poland stepped up in a big way and really carried the load," USF head coach Stan Heath said.
Nash had the task of being the Bulls' lone point guard after the break while usual starter Anthony Collins missed the second half with a head injury. Nash responded by scoring 12 points and dishing out a career-high six assists in 28 minutes of work.
"Blake Nash filled in fantastically when A.C. was out," Heath said. "A lot of guys stepped up in a big way for us."
Toarlyn Fitzpatrick was the other Bulls in double figures with 10 points while USF dealt Villanova (7-8, 0-3) its second loss in the past 53 games at The Pavilion with 6,500 in attendance on Thursday.
"I'm real proud of our team. It's hard to get wins here, they don't happen very often," Heath said.
USF went on a 16-8 run during the first half to take a 27-25 lead at the break and leaned on its supporting cast to keep the advantage all the way up to the final buzzer.
Dominic Cheek cut the Wildcats' deficit to 48-45 with 9:03 to play, but the Bulls started to pull away shortly after with a jumper by Poland on an assist from Nash. After the score was at 48-45 USF went on a 9-2 run that took the clock all the way down to 5:33 to play.
"Whenever they made that run it seemed like (Poland) was the guy who put out the fire," Heath said.
USF's lead never dipped below eight points the rest of the way before earning its first-ever win on Villanova's home court. The Bulls' other victory in the series came in the first round of last season's Big East Tournament by a 70-69 margin.
USF was coming off a 67-65 victory over Rutgers after pushing UConn to the limit in a 60-57 loss.
"We've been knocking on the door recently and I think our team has been growing in terms of being tough, finishing games down the stretch, understanding their roles and making some tough, hard plays," Heath said.
Villanova usually is dominant on the boards, but USF outrebounded the Wildcats, 38-26. Victor Rudd Jr. posted 10 rebounds, while Ron Anderson Jr. had five before fouling out during the second half.
"I thought the rebounding was the biggest key in the game," Heath said. "We had to do a good job in that area."
USF will carry its two-game win streak to South Bend, Ind., where it will face Notre Dame 7 p.m. Tuesday before coming home to the Tampa Bay Times Forum to host Seton Hall Friday, Jan. 13 at 7 p.m.
