Bulls blownout by Cardinals, again
History is said to repeat itself, and for the USF men’s basketball team it happened in the span of almost a month.
USF traveled to No. 11 Louisville for its second and last regular season matchup with the Cardinals on Tuesday night, and the Bulls experienced similar results to the last time they met up this season.
The Bulls didn’t lose by 39 this time, but they never led in the 26-point loss, which had few bright spots in the 80-54 game, marking USF’s fourth loss in a row.
The only player to reach double-digits in scoring, the only bright spot, was senior forward Victor Rudd, who contributed 27 points, half of the Bulls’ total, along with
10 rebounds.
Aside from Rudd, the Bulls’ offense struggled to keep pace with Louisville.
Three-point shooting was one of the biggest struggles.
USF is last in the American Athletic Conference (AAC) in three-point shooting. In Kentucky the Bulls only made one of their 10 attempts.
Aside from the struggles beyond the arc, USF (12-15, 3-11) shot 60 percent on two-point field goals. Despite this success, Louisville was able to overwhelm the Bulls due to their larger volume of shots.
The Cardinals took 71 attempts compared to the Bulls’ 45. This large margin was aided by the 12 fewer turnovers and 11 more offensive rebounds Louisville recorded.
Senior guard Russ Smith, who scored 19 points in 30 minutes, led Louisville. Unlike the Bulls, the Cardinals (22-4, 11-2) were able to spread their scoring output, with four players scoring at least 13 points.
USF will have eight days off to prepare for UConn, which will be the Bulls’ longest break in over two months.
The extended break comes at an opportune time for a team that lost by 43 points in its first matchup against UConn.
Tip off with the Huskies will be Feb. 26 at 7 p.m. in the Sun Dome.
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