TAMPA (January 26, 2022) – Returning to action after an eight-day layoff, the University of South Florida Bulls (6-12, 1-5 AAC) dropped a 74-54 tilt to the SMU Mustangs (15-4, 6-1 AAC) on Wednesday night at the Yuengling Center.

Caleb Murphy (Youngstown, Ohio), Jamir Chaplin (Norcross, Ga.) and Javon Greene (McDonough, Ga.) each scored in double digits in the Bulls' setback.

Four of South Florida's first six conference games this season have come against the top teams in the AAC standings in Houston and SMU.

"SMU is playing really well right now," said head coach Brian Gregory. "They have a lot of veteran guys who can put you in tough matchups with their versatility and they exposed us for some stretches tonight."

The Mustangs opened up a 10-point lead with five minutes left in the first half before a seven-point USF run made it a 26-23 affair with two minutes in go. Sam Hines Jr. (Marietta, Ga.) sparked the offense with a thunderous dunk through a defender, Greene followed with a three-pointer and Russel Tchewa (Douala, Cameroon) connected on a hook shot in the lane.

SMU answered with a 10-point run to carry a 36-25 advantage into the break and proceeded to shoot 54 percent in the second half to dash any hopes of a USF comeback.

South Florida claimed the rebounding battle, 36-34.

"You can't fault the effort of the guys when they pull down 16 offensive rebounds, we just have to convert some more looks offensively."

Greene led USF with six rebounds and three steals to go along with 10 points.

Notable

• USF had its worst effort of the season from the free throw line, shooting just 28 percent (4-14).
• Jalyn McCreary (Marietta, Ga.) made his first start of the season and tallied four points, two rebounds and one steal.  

Up Next

The Bulls open a two-game road trip at Tulsa on Saturday, January 29. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. ET. Following that USF travels to UCF for another War On I-4 showdown in Orlando on Thursday, February 3.

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 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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