By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer
TAMPA, JAN. 28, 2015 – Shorthanded USF left a great impression on legendary coach Larry Brown in a 63-52 loss to red-hot SMU on Wednesday night at the Sun Dome.
Corey Allen Jr. and Nehemias Morillo scored 18 points apiece, Jaleel Cousins grabbed career-high 10 rebounds off the bench and the Bulls led for nearly 11 minutes without star Chris Perry, who missed his second straight game. The sophomore forward/center from Bartow, Fla., is out indefinitely with a health issue after averaging 10.8 points and 7.1 rebounds in 19 games.
"They did a remarkable job based on getting the news about Chris. I have a lot of admiration for the way they played," said Brown after his Mustangs earned their seventh straight win.
Allen Jr. (St. Louis) tied his career high with four 3-pointers and scored 15 points in the second half after Morillo powered the Bulls' offense with 12 points in the opening period.
Morillo scored a career-high 18 points the last time out at UConn and got into a groove early in USF's eighth meeting with SMU. The junior guard from Santiago, Dominican Republic scored four points during the Bulls' game-opening 9-2 run and hit a 3-pointer to extend the lead to 12-8 nearly 9 minutes into the action.
"The guys from the jump came out competing and battling," head coach Orlando Antigua said. "I thought they were out there having some fun, too, so it was good to see."
The lead changed hands twice before Markus Kennedy's dunk put SMU ahead, 20-18, with 5:30 remaining before halftime. Kennedy had 10 points as the Mustangs headed into the break with a 32-25 lead.
Allen Jr. heated up in the second half with three 3-pointers and made back-to-back shots from long range to cut a 10-point deficit down to 44-40 with 11:34 remaining. SMU responded with an 8-0 run and never let the lead dip below seven points the rest of the way in the Mustangs' 15th victory in the past 16 games.
SMU (17-4, 8-1) finished with a 28-16 advantage in points in the paint and got a lot of production from its big men. Kennedy, a 6-foot-9 forward, scored a career-high 22 points after going 10-for-12 from the field. Yanick Moreira, a 6-foot-11 center, added 12 points and 10 rebounds to help the Mustangs finish with a 38-33 edge on the glass.
Despite the loss, USF (7-14, 1-7) proved to be a much different team than the one that fell, 83-49, at SMU on New Year's Eve thanks to strong efforts across the board.
Cousins grabbed his 10 rebounds in just 13 minutes of action and added six points. Starting in Perry's place, Bo Zeigler (Detroit) posted six points and six rebounds in 18 minutes before fouling out. Point guard Anthony Collins dished out three of his team-high five assists in the first half that saw the Bulls shoot 41.7 percent (10-for-24).
"We were competing. We were men," Antigua said. "We didn't little errors compound or disrupt our focus, we just kept playing."
Brown, the only coach to win an NBA title and an NCAA championship, said the Bulls are on the right path with the right coach in place.
"I know how good this program is going to be," Brown said. "Orlando is good people. He deserves this opportunity. This is to me a sleeping giant. He'll get it done."
After battling the league's second-place team, USF looks to hand first-place Tulsa its first loss in conference play when the programs meet up 1 p.m. Saturday in Oklahoma (TV: ESPNews). USF is back at the Sun Dome on Wednesday, Feb. 4 to take on Temple at 6:30 p.m. Purchase tickets HERE.
