By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer

BLOOMINGTON, Ind., NOV. 19, 2017 – USF pulled ahead by halftime and had the lead with less than 18 minutes remaining before falling, 70-53, at Indiana on Sunday night.

Payton Banks (Orange, Calif.) matched his season high with 18 points and scored 15 in the first half to help the Bulls take a 34-33 lead into the locker room. After shooting 44 percent in the opening half, USF (2-2) converted 24 percent of its field goal attempts the rest of its opening game of the Hoosier Tip-Off Classic.

Indiana (2-2) took control by outscoring USF, 37-19, in the second half and keeping the Bulls scoreless for the final 3:11. Sunday's first-ever meeting between the programs was entertaining from the start with 11 ties and 14 lead changes.

Malik Martin finished in double figures for the first time in his USF career with 11 points after going 5-for-7 from the field. The redshirt junior forward from Miami also posted at least five rebounds for the second time this season.

Banks started 5-for-8 from the field and made three of his four three-pointers in USF's hot first half. Head coach Brian Gregory's Bulls went 8-for-9 at the free throw line and outrebounded Indiana, 14-12, before the break.

Banks' third three-pointer got the Bulls even at 26-26 with 4:13 to go before halftime. Three ties followed before Indiana was called for goaltending on a David Collins layup that put the Bulls back ahead with 1 second left in the half.

Tulio Da Silva (Formiga, Brazil) started the second half with a three-pointer that sparked a 5-2 run in the first two minutes, 10 seconds. Indiana grabbed the momentum with a 19-5 run that extended its lead to 54-44 with 8:29 to play. Banks' three-point play cut the deficit to 54-47, but that's as close as the Bulls got the rest of the way.

Freshman guard David Collins (Youngstown, Ohio) finished with a career-high eight points with four steals in 28 minutes. Da Silva posted eight points and led USF in rebounding for the third time this season with seven boards.

Quotable
Head coach Brian Gregory's thoughts on the way the game unfolded:
"I was proud of the ways our guys competed that first three quarters of the game. At the same time, we were a little limited body-wise and tried to play some zone in there, which was effective at times. Then we didn't control the defensive glass again in that second half."
"We kind of ran out of gas, unfortunately. Our guys played extremely hard for those first 30 minutes and then we had some defensive breakdowns. We didn't guard as well in the second half, which was highlighted as well with turnovers and not executing some on offense, which led to us in a scramble on defense."

Gregory on what he learned about his team by facing a veteran opponent like Indiana:
"You have to realize you just played a team that less than a year ago was the Big Ten champion. They have five, six guys on the team that played on that championship team, Sweet 16 team. They're struggling to find their identity a little bit, but they have guys that have been in the program for a while… Even though our upperclassmen are new to the program, we have to count on those guys night-in and night-out in order to be successful. The other thing you learn is we did compete for those first 30-32 minutes of the game at a very, very high level. We weren't perfect, we still made mistakes, but if you compete and you play that hard, you're going to have some success."

Key Stats
1-for-9: USF finished the game making 1 of its last nine shots from the field.
6-for-25: USF shot 24 percent after the break, including 1-for-10 from long range.
17 – USF's committed 17 turnovers and Indiana finished with 15 points off takeaways.

Notables

• This marked the first-ever meeting between USF and Indiana.
• Payton Banks tied his season scoring high with his second straight 18-point outing.
• USF has gone 61-for-75 from the free throw line this season (81.3 percent). Sunday was the first time USF didn't have a perfect free throw percentage at halftime.
• Sunday marked the first time the Bulls have faced a Big Ten opponent since Nov. 20, 2011 against Penn State. USF is 7-14 all-time against Big Ten foes.

 
Up Next
USF continues the Hoosier Tip-Off Classic at home against Howard on Wednesday, Nov. 22 at 7 p.m.
 
Wednesday will mark the second of four games that encompass the Hoosier Tip-Off Classic. The first meeting between USF and Howard will be broadcast live on ESPN3.
 

About USF Men's Basketball
The USF men's basketball team is led by head coach Brian Gregory. On March 22, Gregory was introduced as the 10^th head coach in program history. He previously led programs at Georgia Tech (2011-16) and Dayton (2003-11). Gregory spent nearly a decade as an assistant coach under Michigan State's Hall of Fame head coach Tom Izzo and helped the Spartans win the 2000 NCAA National Championship. Gregory brings nearly 250 career head coaching wins and six postseason appearances, including the 2010 NIT Championship, to Tampa.

USF has retired three numbers in its 47-year history: Chucky Atkins (12), Charlie Bradley (30) and Radenko Dobras (31). The Bulls have earned three NCAA tournament bids and appeared in the NIT eight times.

For tickets, contact the USF Ticket Office at 1-800-Go-Bulls or by going online to USFBullsTix.com.