The USF men’s basketball team wrapped up their 2014-2015 regular season in disappointing fashion by losing 67-63 to a superior Tulane squad Saturday night.
Guard Troy Holston Jr led the team in scoring with a career-high 21 points in the loss, followed closely by Nehemias Morillo’s 16 points.
After being down 11 points at halftime, the Bulls rallied to take the lead late in the second half before succumbing to Tulane’s offense, which has been the story the Bulls’ season.
“I think the first half was awful,” said Anthony Collins during the postgame conference. “If we played the first half like we played the second half, we would’ve been okay, but we dug ourselves into too big of a hole.”
After starting the season 5-1, the Bulls lost 21 of their last 25 games. Their leading scorer, Corey Allen Jr., was suspended for six games for accepting “impermissible benefits” from a prior institution to essentially end his college career. He was averaging 15.4 points per game.
The team’s second leading scorer, Chris Perry, missed nearly the final third of his season due to health issues, including chest pains. Perry averaged 10.8 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. He also held the team’s second best field goal percentage at .491.
The Bulls (9-22) won just three conference games in head coach Orlando Antigua’s first year and will now head into the conference tournament as the No. 11 seed. In the first round, the Bulls will take on the No. 6 Connecticut Huskies on March 12 at 8 p.m. on ESPNews.
“I think we have some confidence in us still,” Holston said. “Like I said, you can see a lot of growth as a team; you can tell everyone is getting better and still playing hard, giving 100 percent. I think that’s going to be key for us # everyone playing hard, come conference tournament.”
The Bulls’ 62.1 total points per game ranked 303rd in the country, and their .434 field goal percentage ranked 186th.
