HONOLULU (December 22, 2021) – The University of South Florida (4-6) produced another strong defensive effort on Wednesday in its opening game of the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic, but fell to (RV) BYU, 54-39.  

Javon Greene had nine points to lead the Bulls. Caleb Murphy, who led USF in scoring heading into the contest with 13.0 points per game, scored five points.

Fousseyni Traore had 11 points and nine rebounds for the Cougars. Gideon George came off the bench to score 11. Alex Barcello added 10 points for BYU (10-2), while sophomore Caleb Lohner grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds.

USF was held to just two three-pointers in the contest for the third straight game after firing up 21 attempts on Wednesday.

Jamir Chaplin scored six points and led the Bulls with six rebounds. Corey Walker Jr. recorded a season-best eight points.

Story courtesy of Associated Press. USF athletics communications contributed to this recap.

Up Next

The Bulls will play either host Hawaii or Vanderbilt in the second round of the Diamond Head Classic on Thursday. Game time is TBD based on the opponent.

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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 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.
 
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