By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer

TULSA, Okla., FEB. 18, 2018 – Freshman David Collins scored in double figures for the sixth straight game, leading the Bulls with 17 points in a 73-61 loss at Tulsa on Sunday.

Collins extended his career-long streak of double-digit performances by scoring 11 points after the break. The Youngstown, Ohio native led the Bulls (8-20, 1-14) in scoring for the second straight game, finishing 6-for-6 from the free throw line and 3-for-4 from long range.

Four Bulls finished in double figures after Stephan Jiggetts (Forestville, Md.) boosted USF early by scoring 11 of his 16 total points in the first half. Payton Banks (Orange, Calif.) scored all 11 of his points after the break to reach double digits for the 17^th time this season.

Malik Martin (Miami) had one his best performances of the season, going 5-for-7 from the field and finishing with 10 points and a team-high six rebounds.

Tulsa (16-10, 9-5) took a 34-23 advantage into the break and led by 24 with 12:34 remaining. USF cut the deficit in half down the stretch and shot 45 percent from the field during its 38-point second half. After starting the second half 1-for-10 from the field, the Bulls went 13-for-21 the rest of the way.

Quotable
Head coach Brian Gregory on freshman David Collins' performance:
"That was again another quality game out of him. I thought defensively, he did some really good things as well. We challenge him, it's tough for a freshman. We put him on Taplin, who is coming off a 30-point night, and Taplin goes 2 of 6 and 3-for-3 from the field. I thought he did a really good job on him. He gets hit by probably 30 to 40 ball screens today defensively guarding Taplin and doesn't back down one bit. He is a guy who is obviously playing well for us and he's a dependable kid."

Gregory on the team fighting to the end to cut a 24-point deficit in half:
"It was the five guys on the court at the end, plus Terrence, that did the fighting. They did exactly what we want. A couple good things that maybe you'll see is our three-quarter court pressure was a little more effective. We were able to fall into the zone and the man out of that. We switched a lot, just to try to keep the ball in front of us a little more. Those guys fought and it's amazing when you're playing a little harder and you're sharing the ball a little bit, the basketball gods bless you with a couple made shots. That's what happens and I thought you saw that in the last 12 minutes."

Key Stats
93 – USF shot 93 percent from the free throw line (13-for-14).
26 – The Golden Hurricane finished with 26 points in the paint and 26 bench points.
16 – Tulsa scored 16 points off 15 USF turnovers.
Notable

• Freshman David Collins is averaging 14.2 points during his six-game stretch of scoring in double figures.
• USF needs one more victory to reach nine wins on the season, which would be the program's most since winning nine games in 2014-15.
• The Bulls shot above 90 percent from the free throw line for the third time in the last six games after not reaching the milestone before that point. The 13-for-14 performance is the second-best of the season by percentage.
• Payton Banks needs 26 points to reach 1,000 in his career. Banks scored 664 points in three seasons at Penn State before arriving at USF.

Up Next
USF returns to the Sun Dome to take on Tulane on Saturday, Feb. 24. The noon game will be televised on ESPNU and fans can reserve their seats at USFBullsTix.com.
 
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.