By TOM ZEBOLD
USF Senior Writer

CINCINNATI, JAN. 15, 2019 – Relentless USF roared back from a 12-point halftime deficit before falling to Cincinnati, 82-74, Tuesday night at Fifth Third Arena.

USF (12-5, 2-3 in AAC) tied the game up twice after the break, the final time with 6:28 remaining, but couldn't gain distance despite outshooting the Bearcats from the floor and winning the rebounding battle.

Cincinnati (15-3, 4-1 in AAC) pulled out its sixth win in the past seven games by shooting 90.6 percent from the free throw line, including a 20-for-22 performance in the second half.

Laquincy Rideau poured in a team-high 26 points with four assists and a pair of steals. The junior guard from West Palm Beach, Fla., is averaging 18.8 points, 5.8 assists and 4.6 steals per game in conference play this season.

Alexis Yetna (Paris) posted 12 points and made all six of his free throws to help the Bulls finish 22-for-26 at the line. Freshman Michael Durr (Atlanta) matched his career high with 10 points and grabbed nine rebounds while David Collins (Youngstown, Ohio) added 10 points and four assists.

After taking Temple to overtime last Saturday, USF jumped out to an 8-2 lead on Cincinnati with four quick points by Rideau, who registered the Bulls' first triple-double since 2006 against the Owls.

Cincinnati responded with a 15-3 run and scored 19 points off 15 USF turnovers on the way to a 43-31 halftime lead. Rideau beat the buzzer with a highlight-reel layup and led the Bulls with 11 points in the first 20 minutes.

Known for heating up after the break this season, USF opened the second half with a 24-12 scoring advantage to tie the game up at 11:52 remaining. Cincinnati answered with an 8-0 run but the Bulls didn't back down and evened the score again at 65-65 with 6:28 to play.

Up by two with less than four minutes left, Cincinnati scored five straight points and didn't let its lead dip below five the rest of the way. Eight of the Bearcats' final 10 points were produced at the free throw line.

Quotable
Head coach Brian Gregory's thoughts on the Bulls' performance:
"We didn't get off to a good start in the first half, too many turnovers with 15 in the first half. We had only six in the second half and that's why we played better. We were just out of sorts a little bit on offense, settled down in the second half and made our free throws. We rebounded the ball well and foul trouble hurt us."

Gregory on what led to Cincinnati pulling away down the stretch of the second half:
"When it was tied, I think they went four possessions and all free throws. There were a lot of off-ball screens and you've got to be really disciplined off the ball, so you're not grabbing and holding on the cuts. We did a much better job of that in the first half than we did in the second half… (Cincinnati) got 20 points at the free throw line in the second half and that's a big, big 20 out of their 39 points. That's a tough, bitter pill to swallow, no doubt about it."

Key Stats
30 – Cincinnati scored 30 points off 21 USF turnovers.
29-for-32 – Cincinnati shot 90.6 percent from the free throw line and made 20 of 22 free throw attempts in the second half.
27 and 19 – USF won the rebounding battle, 27-23, and had a 19-11 edge in second-chance points.
22-for-26 – USF's success rate at the free throw line, including 6-for-6 showings from Laquincy Rideau and Alexis Yetna.

Notable

• USF (12-4) remains one victory away from posting the program's most wins since the 2011-12 season.
• Laquincy Rideau is now 13 steals away from setting USF's new single-season steals record. Leon Smith holds the program record with 68 steals during the 1973-74 season.

Up Next
USF returns to the Yuengling Center to host Houston on Saturday at 8 p.m. (TV: ESPNU). Reserve your 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, 2017, 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. In his first season at the helm of the Bulls, Gregory led the team to its first 10-plus win season since 2013-14. 

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.

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