TAMPA (February 9, 2022) – Playing at home for the second time in 48 hours, the University of South Florida Bulls (7-15, 2-8 AAC) were unable to deny the hot-shooting Cincinnati Bearcats (16-7, 6-4 AAC) in a 70-59 loss.

Cincinnati shot 47 percent from the field, including a 10-21 effort (47%) from three-point range. The Bulls were held to just one three-pointer in the setback.

South Florida forced 19 Cincinnati turnovers, matching season highs for both the Bulls and Bearcats.

"We played with the intensity tonight that it takes to compete with a very physical and talented team in Cincinnati," said head coach Brian Gregory. "You have to give them credit for hitting some key shots in big moments, and we just weren't able to match that. But, I was impressed with our effort on the defensive end, especially in another physical game after a quick turnaround from Monday."

A back-and-forth first half saw six leads changes before the Bearcats went on a 13-2 run, including eight straight over the final three minutes, into the break for a 35-26 halftime lead.

The Bulls have been plagued this season by not closing out halves and allowing their opponent to extend the lead early in the second half. Not on Wednesday night.

South Florida picked up the defensive intensity and forced five Cincinnati turnovers in the opening five minutes of the second half to spark a 14-3 offensive run that gave the Bulls the lead, 40-38, on a jumper by Sam Hines Jr. (Marietta, Ga.).

Cincinnati answered with a 10-1 run of its own to reclaim the lead and never relinquished it.

"We made some really good adjustments at halftime, the defense was really active and I liked the way we attacked the basket in the second half, we just didn't finish enough of those opportunities," Gregory said.

Hines Jr. finished the game with a season-high 12 points to go along with four rebounds and one block.

"Sam has been doing the little things for us all along, and he's been putting in a lot of work offensively and you saw that tonight," Gregory added.

Jamir Chaplin (Norcross, Ga.) and Caleb Murphy (Youngstown, Ohio) scored 10 points apiece for the Bulls. Chaplin added a team-high six rebounds with three steals, two assists and a blocked shot.

Notable

• Russel Tchewa (Douala, Cameroon) scored nine points and is averaging 11.6 points over his last three games.
• The Bulls scored 17 points off 19 Cincinnati turnovers.
• USF's bench contributed 22 points after being held to just four in Monday's win over Temple.

Up Next

The Bulls continue their stretch of six games over 13 days with their lone road contest at Wichita State on Saturday. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. ET on ESPNU.

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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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