TAMPA (November 13, 2021) – Freshman forward DJ Patrick (Powder Springs, Ga.) drained six three-pointers on Saturday afternoon and scored a game-high 18 points for the University of South Florida Bulls (1-1), but his sharpshooting effort wasn't enough in a 53-41 loss to Georgia Southern (2-0) at the Yuengling Center.

Patrick, one of eight new transfers to the South Florida roster this season, poured in 15 of those points in the first half to keep the Bulls afloat as the home team went into the locker room facing a 33-25 deficit.

"DJ moved the best for us all day away from the ball, and that allowed him to create space for open looks. He's always ready to shoot and did a great job in that aspect today," said head coach Brian Gregory.

Javon Greene (McDonough, Ga.) connected from downtown on the opening possession after USF won the tipoff, but his triple along with five from Patrick were the only that fell in the first half out of 17 total attempts by the Bulls.

The Bulls trailed 10-3 after seven minutes of play before Patrick entered the game and got hot from beyond the arc, connecting on four of his first five attempts from long range to make it a 17-12 affair at the 7:18 mark. His fifth triple of the half cut the Eagles' lead to 21-18 with 5:40 remaining, and a second-chance dunk off his own rebound by Sam Hines Jr. (Marietta, Ga.) tied the game at 23-23 at the 3:32 mark.

Georgia Southern proceeded to close the half on a 10-2 run, and the Bulls weren't able to make up the ground in the second half.

"We made some mistakes at critical moments of the game when we were trying to close the gap, and we're not synced together enough as a team with all these new pieces yet to overcome that. Give credit to Georgia Southern, they played physical and have a lot of good players who create matchup issues," Gregory added.

Russel Tchewa (Douala, Cameroon) deposited a hook shot in the lane at the 14:21 mark of the second half to cut the Eagles' advantage to 41-33, but USF then went without a field goal until Jake Boggs hit a jumper at the 1:24 mark.

Patrick added his final three-pointer of the ballgame as the buzzer sounded to account for the final score. That basket was USF's lone make from downtown in the second half as the Bulls went 1-for-14 from the arc over the final 20 minutes of play.

"Overall, we just didn't match their physicality today, and I think that affected us on the offensive end, because we had plenty of good looks. It's an area that we've had some concern with coming in, and we'll continue to address now that it's shown up in our second game. We just didn't respond well."

Notable

• Georgia Southern out-rebounded USF, 36-34.
• The Bulls committed 14 turnovers after having just seven in their opening game.
• USF scored 50 points in the paint in the opener, but was held to just 14 on Saturday.
• Tchewa led the Bulls with nine rebounds, including six offensive boards.
• Caleb Murphy (Youngstown, Ohio) was USF's next highest scorer after Patrick with six points.

Up Next

The Bulls continue their season-opening homestand on Monday against North Carolina A&T State at 7 p.m. at the Yuengling Center.  

To stay up-to-date on the latest USF men's basketball news, follow the Bulls on social media (Twitter | Facebook | Instagram).

About USF Men's Basketball

The USF men's basketball team is led by head coach Brian Gregory, who enters his fifth season in 2021-22. Gregory was introduced as the 10th head coach in program history in March of 2017 after previously leading 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 owns over 300 career head coaching wins and six postseason appearances, including the 2010 NIT Championship with Dayton. In his second season at the helm of the Bulls, Gregory led the team to the best win turnaround in the NCAA, the most single-season wins in school history and the 2019 College Basketball Invitational championship. 
 
USF has retired three numbers in its 48-year history: Chucky Atkins (12), Charlie Bradley (30) and Radenko Dobras (31). The Bulls have earned three NCAA tournament bids, appeared in the NIT eight times and won the 2019 College Basketball Invitational.
 
For tickets, contact the USF Ticket Office at 1-800-Go-Bulls or by going online to USFBullsTix.com.

– #GoBulls –