Students awoke from their Friday-night hangovers, groaning and dragging their feet in hopes of attending Saturday’s 11 a.m. men’s basketball game for USF’s first Zombie Day.
The students, however, were not the only ghouls in attendance as the Tulsa Hurricanes (12-5) devoured the USF Bulls 75-58.
The Bulls, who have lost 10 of their last 12 games after starting the season 5-1, led for nearly 12 minutes in the first half. But once the Bulls (7-11) started falling behind, the crowd questioned whether the referees’ eyes were still inside their skulls.
The student section erupted in screams after a controversial call went against the Bulls. Within minutes, there was no need to groan in defense of the home team, as the Hurricanes began sinking their teeth deeper into their prey.
“Being aggressive, we wanted to keep attacking,” Tulsa head coach Frank Haith said. “And that’s how we play.”
Nehemias Morillo scored 15 points, shooting 6-for-12. Running behind him was Ruben Guerrero with 11 points and three rebounds.
“I think we started off pretty well with energy, willing to fight, but then as you say, we had too many turnovers,” Guerrero said.
Center Jaleel Cousins came off the bench scoring nine points and making 5-of-6 free throws.
“I thought Jaleel put an imprint on the game when he was just being physical; he was being alert, he was being active,” Bulls head coach Orlando Antigua said.
The corpses on the court continued to lose momentum in the second half. They never regained their lead.
No players were seriously injured in the battle.
