TAMPA – The South Florida Bulls (16-8, 7-3) dismissed the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes (20-4, 7-3), 80-74, as USF never trailed and led for over 38 minutes. Forward Izaiyah Nelson scored 25 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, and Wes Enis netted 20 points, including seven in the final 1:39, five from the free throw line. USF pulled into a first-place tie with Tulsa as the Bulls also took a 93-78 win on Jan. 10.
South Florida held Tulsa to only 39 percent from the floor and just 74 points. The Golden Hurricanes average 87.5 points per game while shooting 49.3 percent, 26th in college basketball.
“Our bigs pulled down some massive rebounds tonight down the stretch,” said South Florida head coach Bryan Hodgson. “It’s all five of them because we have to execute defensively. A team like that – they are never out of the game until that final buzzer.”
The Bulls took a 14-1 lead to start the game as Nelson scored six straight points and had eight over the first 5:07. Leading 39-35 at halftime, South Florida used a three-pointer and a layup by Joe Pinion to give the Bulls a 49-37 lead with 17:15 remaining.
USF changed defenses from man-to-man to an extended 2-3 zone, which was key in foiling Tulsa’s offensive attack. Hodgson threw traps in here and there as another dynamic into the Bulls’ defense.
“At their place, I thought we did a really good job of anytime they would get an ATO (after a time out) in or a side out of bounds, or a under out of bounds, we would mix in a zone look and they would end up having to scrap their play and they would get a little confused and we would take them out of what they were running,” explained Hodgson.
CJ Brown (8) and Enis (6) recorded a combined 14 assists vs. zero turnovers, and each played 35 minutes.
“That is elite! That is elite guard play!” said Hodgson. “We have the best backcourt in this conference and in the country, and we showed that today.”
Three-point marksman Ade Popoola led the Golden Hurricanes with 24 points, going 8-for-13 from the three-point line. Leading scorer David Green finished with 16 points, scoring 10 of those late in the second half.
Key Moment: The Bulls led 74-69 when Wes Enis turned the corner off the dribble on the left side of the lane. He drove past his defender for a lay-up plus the following free throw. USF led 77-69 with 39 seconds remaining, while Enis closed with two more free throws and Brown made a foul shot with eight seconds remaining for the 80-74 win.
“I just saw the big up on me, and I knew I could go by, and we have been working on it, extra time,” said Enis. “Coach will tell you to finish at the rim. Doing that every day in practice correlates to the game.”
Team Defined! Coach Hodgson has built an incredibly unselfish basketball team that makes the extra pass on almost all scoring possessions. Setting up leading scorer, Izaiyah Nelson, is one of the top objectives.
At one point, Nelson ran the floor in transition off a turnover, and Enis connected with him on a breakaway dunk, which gave the Bulls an early 6-0 lead.
“Our mistakes – he’s there to fix them,” said CJ Brown of Nelson’s presence. “So when he is running as hard as he can, you have got to reward him.”
Nelson, who leads the Bulls with 16.3 ppg and 9.8 rpg, showed his versatility when he blocked a shot, ran the floor, and got his slam dunk in transition on another pass from Enis.
“We trust one another, and we know that our offense is predicated on the point of the ball and being unselfish, and it will be anybody’s night, and we know that,” said Enis.
Nelson has shot 60.3 percent from the floor in registering double figures in 21 of the Bulls’ 24 games.
“He works his butt off, doing a lot of dirty work – things we don’t do,” commented Enis. “Sometimes he’s making up for me, getting blown by, with blocking a shot. You know, he is pulling down a rebound, and maybe I miss a box out, but it doesn’t matter because he’s coming in there and flying to get a rebound.”
Brown was the lone returnee from last season’s team, and Hodgson obviously did an excellent job in building USF into a team that has been able to threaten the American Conference championship in his first season.
“We see each other put in the work all the time, so it builds trust,” commented Brown. “When Wes is open, I know he is going to make that shot. I know I am looking for one more (pass) to Joe (Omojafo) or even Izaiyah Nelson. He’s been hitting threes lately. Everybody is putting in work, and I just trust everybody.”
Hodgson recruited Nelson to Arkansas State, and he welcomed the 6-10, 218, forward to Tampa when he became the coach.
“I have been able to watch that man for three years and watch his growth and development and the way he fell in love with the process and the work that it takes to become good,” summarized Hodgson. “He worked and worked and saw the rewards of his labor, and he just fell in love with that, and he has been unbelievable.”