GREENVILLE, N.C., JAN. 9, 2021 – David Collins registered 16 points, including 14 in the second half, as South Florida got past East Carolina 69-63 on Saturday at Minges Coliseum.
Justin Brown (Atlanta) had 12 points for South Florida (7-5, 3-3 American Athletic Conference) and Alexis Yetna (Paris) added 10 points and six rebounds.
Tremont Robinson-White scored a career-high 29 points for the Pirates (7-3, 1-3). Jayden Gardner added 10 points and 10 rebounds. Bitumba Baruti had eight rebounds.
In a series that had seen two of the last three meetings go to overtime, USF and East Carolina went back-and-forth for the majority of the first half with neither team leading by more than five points.
East Carolina held a five-point lead through the first three minutes of the second half before a 13-2 run by South Florida put the Bulls ahead 43-34 at the 14:34 mark.
Caleb Murphy (Youngstown, Ohio) started the run with a layup off an East Carolina turnover before Brown hit three-pointers on three straight possessions to turn a three-point deficit into a six-point lead. A Collins trey and a Yetna layup off an inbounds pass helped extend the run.
USF would go on to lead by as many as 13 points and held a 67-54 lead with just under three minutes remaining. That’s when East Carolina scored nine straight points and trimmed the USF lead to 67-63 with 53 seconds left.
A missed free throw and a turnover on consecutive possessions by USF prevented the Bulls from extending its lead any further. East Carolina regained possession with 33 seconds left and missed a three-point attempt by JJ Miles that was rebounded by Collins.
Collins was immediately fouled and missed both free throws, giving the ball back to East Carolina with 16 seconds remaining. A three-point attempt by Tyrie Jackson was off and found the arms of Brown for the defensive rebound.
Brown hit both free throws and pushed the USF lead up to six and preserved the win for the Bulls.
Notable
• USF finished with 13 offensive rebounds and has now registered double-digit offensive rebounds in all but one game this season.
• USF finished with 25 points off the bench and has received at least 25 points off the bench in back-to-back games.
• David Collins became one of just seven players in USF history with over 1,400 career points.
Key Stats
10 – USF held East Carolina leading scorer Jayden Gardner to 10 points, seven points below his season average.
6 – USF made six three-pointers in the second half and shot 60.0 percent from beyond the arc.
10 – All 10 USF players that saw action scored at least two points for the Bulls.
Up Next
USF continues American Athletic Conference play Thursday at 7 p.m. when the Bulls host No. 11 Houston at the Yuengling Center. The match-up will be televised by either ESPN or ESPN2.
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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 over 300 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 College Basketball Invitational.
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