TAMPA, FLA., JAN. 6, 2021 – Brandon Rachal scored 15 points and had six rebounds to lead Tulsa to a 61-51 victory over South Florida Wednesday afternoon at the Yuengling Center.
Elijah Joiner added 13 points and a team-high seven rebounds off the bench, and Austin Richie made three 3-pointers and finished with 13 points.
South Florida sophomore Jamir Chaplin (Norcross, Ga.) scored a career-high 16 points to help the Bulls receive 31 points off its bench. Both Caleb Murphy (Youngstown, Ohio) and Xavier Castaneda (Chicago) scored 12 points, while Michael Durr (Atlanta) registered 11 rebounds for his fifth straight game with double digit rebounds.
Tulsa built a 14-4 lead and held USF to just one field goal for the first eight minutes of the opening half. The Golden Hurricane held a 20-11 lead seven minutes later, but USF rallied for nine straight points to pull even at the 3:06 mark after an old fashioned three-point play from Chaplin.
Rey Idowu put Tulsa back on top and stopped the USF run with a layup and Tulsa took a 26-24 lead at halftime.
Tulsa began the second half on a 9-0 run and built an 11-point lead after a layup by Richie just over three minutes in.
USF cut the deficit to six with 7:17 remaining after a Murphy jumper, and Justin Brown (Atlanta) had a wide open three-point attempt on the following possession that would have trimmed the lead in half, but Brown’s jumper went slightly long and Tulsa answered with seven straight points to go on top 53-40.
Notable
• Michael Durr grabbed 11 rebounds and became the first Bull since Kentrell Gransberry with double digit rebounds in five straight games.
• Jamir Chaplin scored a career-high 16 points.
• USF received 31 points from its bench.
Key Stats
30 – Tulsa scored 30 of its 61 points in the paint.
3 – USF entered play leading the league in three-point field goal percentage and finished 3-for-22.
18 – Tulsa finished with 18 assists on 24 made field goals.
Up Next
USF continues American Athletic Conference play Saturday at 1 p.m. when the Bulls travel to Greenville, N.C., to take on East Carolina on ESPN+.
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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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