TAMPA (November 9, 2021) – The University of South Florida Bulls (1-0) opened the 2021-22 men's basketball season with a strong second-half performance for a 75-54 victory over Bethune-Cookman (0-1) on Tuesday night at Yuengling Center. Russel Tchewa (Douala, Cameroon) led all scorers with a career-high 16 points.

Bethune-Cookman used a 13-2 run into halftime to send the teams to their locker rooms deadlocked at 29-29. South Florida flipped the script on the Wildcats in the second half, opening the frame on a 14-4 run and closed the game by outscoring BCU 17-3 over the final seven minutes of play.

Tchewa poured in 12 of his points in the second half as USF dominated the paint, 50-22.

The Bulls put up 10 three-point attempts in the first half against the Wildcats' zone defense before turning their attention to the inside and finding success over the final 20 minutes. USF only recorded three shots from behind the arc in the second half.

USF set the tone in the second half on its opening possession when Caleb Murphy (Youngstown, Ohio) found Jamir Chaplin (Norcross, Ga.) for an easy alley-oop at the rim. Murphy went streaking into the lane himself on the next possession for a fastbreak dunk.

True freshman Trey Moss (Windermere) also made his presence felt in the second half barrage at the rim with his first collegiate dunk.

Late in the half, Chaplin made explosive plays on both ends of the court. Chaplin started on the defensive end with a thunderous block to extend a scoreless drought by the Wildcats, and raced down the court on a fastbreak for a dunk off an assist from Sam Hines Jr. (Marietta, Ga.).

Chaplin finished the game with 13 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Murphy also reached double-digits in the scoring column with 11 points and led the way with four assists.

Notable

• The Bulls owned a 23-2 advantage in fastbreak points on Tuesday.
• USF dished out 15 assists and committed just seven turnovers in the contest.
• All 10 players to enter the game for USF played at least 10 minutes and scored in the game.
• The Bulls have made at least one three-pointer in 183 consecutive games, extending the streak on Tuesday to set a new program record.
• USF improved to 44-18 all-time in season-opening games and 5-0 under head coach Brian Gregory.
• The Bulls improved to 36-14 under coach Gregory when scoring at least 70 points.

Up Next

The Bulls return to their home court on Saturday for a 12 p.m. tip against Georgia Southern University.

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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.

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