TAMPA, FLA., FEB. 12, 2020 (AP) – Quentin Grimes scored nine of his 22 points in the final 3:28, helping No. 20 Houston hold off South Florida 62-58 on Wednesday night.
Grimes made six straight free throws and also sank a 3-pointer that gave the Cougars (20-5, 10-2) some breathing room down the stretch in the matchup between the top two defensive teams in the American Athletic Conference.
Fabian White Jr. scored 10 points for first-place Houston, which led 45-34 before USF rallied to within 53-51. DeJon Jarreau rebounded his own miss and layed the ball in for a 58-53 lead with 21 seconds to go.
Laquincy Rideau (West Palm Beach, Fla.) cut the deficit to two with a three-pointer with 17 seconds, but Grimes made all four of his free throws over the final nine seconds.
Rideau led USF (11-13, 4-7) with 21 points and David Collins (Youngstown, Ohio) scored 13 to move into 14th place on USF’s all-time scoring list with 1,177 career points.
USF sophomore guard Ezacuras Dawson III (Miami) missed his second straight game with an injury.
Quotable
Head Coach Brian Gregory on the game against Houston:
“I told our guys late in the game that we could get the game in reach and give ourselves a chance to win in the last few minutes and our guys really responded. I thought in the second half that our first shot defense was maybe as good as it’s been all year long. Houston made some tough shots. They have multiple guys that can make plays. You have to have unbelievable focus and discipline when you play Houston for 40 minutes. They got 13 offensive rebounds and scored 17 points out of it, that’s about a 75 percent efficiency rate. We get nine offensive rebounds and only get two points. We’re close, buy you’ve got to be really, really on top of every aspect of the game.”
Notable
• David Collins scored 13 points and moved into 14th place all-time at USF with 1,177 career points.
• Laquincy Rideau finished with two steals and moved into fifth all-time at USF with 159 career steals.
• USF limited Houston to 62 points and held its 22nd opponent of the season under its scoring average.
Key Stats
17 – Houston turned 13 offensive rebounds into 17 second chance points.
91.7 – Houston made 11 of its 12 free throw attempts and shot 91.7 percent from the line.
Up Next
USF continues a two-game homestand Saturday at noon when the Bulls blackout Tulsa on ESPNU.
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About USF Men’s Basketball
The USF men’s basketball team is led by head coach Brian Gregory. On March 22, 2017, Gregory was introduced as the 10th head coach in program history. He previously led 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 nearly 250 career head coaching wins and six postseason appearances, including the 2010 NIT Championship. 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 47-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 CBI championship.
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