Questions of the team’s identity have been raised in the offseason, due to having a new coach and nine new faces on the roster, but the Bulls answered sceptics displaying their up-tempo offense and their lock-down defense.
In his first game as a head coach, Orlando Antigua watched his players from courtside as the men’s basketball team dominated the Flagler Saints in a 75-61 victory Friday night.
From center Jaleel Cousin’s first two points to forward Chris Perry’s final layup, USF led the entire game.
The Bulls allowed the Saints to score only two jump shots in the game, both coming in the second half. The Saints were held to 33 percent shooting overall, which gained the respect of Saints head coach Bo Clark.
“I think Orlando brings a lot of energy to USF,” Clark said. “I thought they did a great job defensively. They really had tremendous ball pressure; they knew our shooters.”
The Bulls bench players had an active role throughout the game, combining for 34 points. Perry led the cause with a game-high 18 points, who fed off the atmosphere in the Sun Dome.
“I liked the turn out,” Perry said. “The student section helped us out a lot.”
Junior guard Nehemias Morillo had his hand in the cookie jar as well recording 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Bulls.
Like the majority of the team, it was Morillo’s first time in a Bulls uniform.
“I’m happy; I’m happy for the guys,” Antigua said. “There are a lot of players there that’s their first victory, first time competing, season opener and I’m just excited and happy for them.”
Just three members of last year’s basketball team # Corey Allen, Jr., Anthony Collins and Perry # returned to the Bulls for the 2014-2015 season.
The Saints played into the hooves of the Bulls, as they scored 40 points within the foul-lane area. It was what Antigua wanted from his team. He wanted the Saints to be make shots at the rim and to lock down the 3-point perimeter.
Antigua, who comes from John Calipari’s coaching staff at the University of Kentucky, said that the negative number on the stat sheet that he could live with was the team’s 16 turnovers because he knows his team is running hard to both sides of the court. He believes as the team grows together, that number will shrink.
“…But that’s the kind of way we do want to play,” Antigua said referring to the team’s speed. “We want to be able to run. We want to be able to get out. We want to continue to stress the defense and obviously you seen in the second half that when you continuously come in and being aggressive and attacking and attacking on offense, attacking on defense, you get into the other team’s legs.”
Antigua jokingly said he might retire his tie or his socks to savor his first victory as a head coach.
