TAMPA, JAN. 2, 2019 – Laquincy Rideau (West Palm Beach, Fla.) had 25 points, David Collins overcame foul trouble to add 17 key second-half points, and USF battled back from a double-digit deficit to beat UConn 76-68 Wednesday night in the American Athletic Conference opener for both teams.

USF (11-2, 1-0) also got 12 points from Alexis Yetna (Paris) in its seventh consecutive victory. It's the Bulls' first seven-game winning streak since 2007-08, and their most wins in a season since 2013-14 (12).

Jalen Adams led UConn (9-5, 0-1) with 25 points and Christian Vital added 16.

USF trailed by 13 with 2:20 left in the first half, but eventually took the lead at 41-40 when Collins (Youngstown, Ohio) made a layup with 12 1/2 minutes remaining. He scored his first point of the night moments earlier when he made 1-of-2 from the line.

Collins' trey made it 57-48 with six minutes left.

Adams had a layup and connected on two free throws, cutting the deficit to 66-62 with 1:25 to go.

Collins, who entered as the Bulls leading scorer at 13.9 points, helped secure the win with four free throws in the final minute.

Adams had 11 points in the first half as UConn took a 33-25 halftime lead.

Collins went to the bench 2:10 into the game after picking up his second foul. The Bulls were outscored 19-11 without the guard and trailed 23-13 when he returned with just under nine minutes left in the first half.

Collins played six minutes in the opening half and sat for several minutes early on in the second after getting his third foul.

Quotable
Head coach Brian Gregory on the keys to USF's huge victory in the conference opener:
"I told our guys, 'We won this game on Monday and Tuesday with our practices, our preparation and our commitment to really getting down and dirty on the defensive end and on the glass. We knew there wasn't going to be a lot of pass options offensively. We were going to have to attack the basket. I thought we did a good job of it in the first half but we weren't strong enough around the basket. We did a much better job in the second half."
 
"I told the guys, 'We're going to a get in a rhythm offensively but we need to defend better in the second half. You look at the numbers and they're off the chart. Gritty win, great crowd and great excitement here, that was important. We had a good crowd and we wanted to show them how we play. It wasn't pretty, which we're not sometimes, but we do fight, scratch, claw and play really hard."
 
David Collins on the progress the team has made since last season:
"We just had to grind it out. We knew we were putting pieces together and we had to build off what we had. It's been good so far this year but we've got to keep it going. We're not finished with what we want to do."

Key Stats
47 – USF dominated on the glass by a 47-32 margin, including a 15-8 edge in offensive rebounds.
11 – The Bulls surpassed their entire 2017-18 season total with their 11^th win of the year.
7 – USF's seven-game winning streak is its longest since 2007.
51 – The Bulls scored 51 points in the second half to mark its most points in any half this season.
29 – USF made a season-best 29 free throws

Notable

• USF snapped a 10-game losing streak to UConn and is in the midst of its second-best start in school history.
• USF totaled at least 40 rebounds for the eighth time this season.
• USF has held five of its last six opponents to fewer than 70 points.
• Justin Brown is shooting 60.0 percent from three-point range over his last four games.

Up Next
The Bulls continue league play Saturday at 6 p.m. when the Bulls travel to Tulsa for a matchup on ESPNU.
 
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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.

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