Box Score
TAMPA, DEC. 19, 2015 – Angel Nunez tied a season-high with 18 points and Ruben Guerrero recorded his first-career double-double in USF's 79-68 loss to UAB on Saturday.
The Bulls (3-9) shot 49.1 percent from the field and outrebounded the Blazers (8-3) by 10. However, UAB forced 19 turnovers which led to 26 points as USF dropped its penultimate non-conference game.
“We have to continue to defend the way we want to defend. That's a good team that just made a lot of shots,” said head coach Orlando Antigua of UAB's 51.8 percent shooting. “Our energy was there, but they do a good job of finding the open guy. A lot of credit goes to them.”
Angel Nunez scored 11 of his team-high 18 points in the first seven minutes of the game. Shortly after Nunez' 11th point, Nehemias Morillo's layup gave USF a 19-18 lead. UAB held a 37-34 lead with 3:13 remaining in the first half, but then scored the final seven points to take a 44-34 lead at the break.
Ruben Guerrero scored 10 of his season-high 12 points and eight of his season-high 10 rebounds in the second half. The second half also consisted of 11 turnovers for the Bulls who fell behind by their largest margin of the game, 17 points, 75-58, with under five minutes remaining.
“I'm really happy with how Angel played today,” said Antigua. “Aside from shooting the ball well, he rebounded. Ruben played with a lot of energy and got some tough rebounds in traffic. It was really good to see. Now they both have to continue that.”
Freshman Jahmal McMurray scored in double figures for the 10th time in 12 games with 14 points in 39 minutes of play. Junior Chris Perry recorded 11 points, seven rebounds and three blocks.
“Our kids are battling,” said Antigua. “But we have to have more possessions of third, fourth, fifth effort and we have to take care of the ball.”
A big difference in the game was at the foul line where UAB made 12-of-23 and USF made 6-of-7.
The defending Conference USA champions were led by Clermont, Fla. native Robert Brown who finished with 23 points on 8-of-12 shooting and made four of the Blazers' nine 3-pointers.
USF is back in action on Tuesday with a 6:30 p.m. game at Seton Hall to wrap up the non-conference schedule. The Bulls return home on Dec. 30 when they host Houston at 2 p.m.
The USF men's basketball team returns seven from last season's team including regular starters Ruben Guerrero, Chris Perry, Nehemias Morillo and Bo Zeigler. Orlando Antigua is in his second season as the head coach after spending the previous five season as an assistant to Naismith Hall of Fame coach John Calipari. USF's schedule is comprised of nine teams which had an RPI of 54 or better last season. The Bulls host 19 games, five of those teams made the NCAA Tournament last season.
