By Ken Cross
TAMPA, Fla. – South Florida couldn’t stop the UAB offense on Wednesday evening as the Blazers shot 56 percent from the floor while making 8-of-13 threes which allowed UAB to post a 92-83 win over the Bulls in the Yuengling Center.
USF found that an uphill battle can be insurmountable when they fell behind 47-27 at halftime and never recovered despite a second-half comeback which saw them cut UAB’s lead to 84-78 on a layup by C.J. Brown with 57 seconds remaining. The Blazers made their last eight free throws to finish their fourth win in a row.
UAB plays at one of the top tempos in college basketball as they average 85 points per outing while being efficient with 31.3 made field goals (6th/CBB) in 66.3 attempts (5th/CBB).
Bulls guard Jayden Reid led all scorers with 26 points while Jamille Reynolds and Jimmie Williams led USF with 13 points each.
Interim-head coach Ben Fletcher noted how the Blazers’ offensive potential was a change-up with their improved three-point game which featured the shooting of fifth-year star Tony Toney.
“This game was different than the first three we played,” said Fletcher. “Protecting the paint – certain guys we were going to live with in the first three games. Today, that wasn’t the case, Tony Toney was at the top of our scouting report. I recruited Tony Toney when I was at Troy.”
Toney had shot 25 percent and 28 percent in the past two seasons, but he is shooting 56 percent in the first five AAC games while making 43.5 percent of his triples this season.
“In years past he hasn’t been a great shooter so right now, he is at a higher level,” Fletcher noted. “On the doubles (double-teams), they are going to him early so they are skipping to a guy who is hot as a firecracker.”
Fletcher explained how the Bulls were leaving their positions too early to form the traps and the double teams to try to make the Blazers give up the ball.
“We were a little too antsy early trying to be aggressive, but you can’t do that,” he said. “I don’t think we give up those threes in the first half if we are just disciplined enough to wait for the right timing.”
Much of the game plan was aimed at waiting until 6-8 Yaxel Lendeborg dribbled before he would be trapped.
“A couple of times, we were so antsy that we were going too early, so now it was a skip-three,” said Fletcher. “It was small mistakes made that led to some big shots for them.”
Toney posted all four of his triples in the first half while Butta Johnson made a pair as his second gave the Blazers a 43-25 lead with 1:28 to play before halftime.
USF point guard Jayden Reid scored 22 of his 26 points in the second half as his leadership helped the Bulls to create the second-half surge. He made 8-of-16 shots as four of those were triples in his 33 minutes.
“He is playing out of position right now because we need his offense and defense,” said Fletcher. “The game is slowing down for him and that’s where his elevation has come. He does such a good job of reading what’s open.”
Reid’s confidence and aggressive flow with the basketball showed up immediately in the second half when he canned a pair of his threes early to help cut UAB’s lead to 54-40 in the first 4:29 of the second half.
“He is doing a good job of kinds of reading and reacting to what is going on and processing that stuff in real time which is good to see,” Fletcher stated.