South Florida coach Bryan Hodgson was blunt after the Bulls’ frantic comeback came up short against Louisville in the first round of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
"We obviously did not play well. A big part of that is that they (Louisville) did a great job guarding us," he said after USF fell 83-79 on Thursday, "and we shot ourselves in the foot in the second half."
If only the sneakers were as elusive as the net over the first 20 minutes. The Bulls were colder from outside the 3-point arc than the Buffalo weather outside KeyBank Center.
Meantime, Isaac McKneely was swishing 3-pointers over and over, including one 7:10 into the second half to help Louisville build a 23-point lead. And that’s when Hodgson called a timeout and the Bulls decided to make it interesting.
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“We know there's been games where we've been down 20, down 15,” said USF's Izaiyah Nelson, the American Conference Player of the Year. “And so, all 14 guys, we don't never back down from anything. Coach knows. Coach tells us every time this game isn't over. And so that gets in our mind, like we know that this game ain't over, and we can always come back from something.”
Carried by Nelson, who finished with 22 points, the Bulls went into a defensive frenzy and chipped away with pressure. USF scored 16 points off turnovers in the half.
The Bulls got the deficit down to 10 with 5 minutes left. Then eight; then six with 1:58 on the clock. A Gavin Hightower layup made the lead five with 25 seconds remaining, and Nelson added a dunk. A 3-pointer by Joseph Pinion sliced it to four with 5 seconds remaining. Then it was over.
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“Obviously, we put ourselves in a hole,” Pinion said. “But I thought we battled back really hard, and on that run, you know, the whole crowd was behind us. I definitely thought that, you know, we were gonna win the ballgame, but, you know, we came up short.”
Louisville showed signs of struggling without starting point guard Mikel Brown Jr., who missed his fifth straight game with back issues. It was evident in the Cardinals' issues against USF’s press over the final 11:25.
“It was the longest 10 minutes of my life, there’s no question about it,” Cardinals coach Pat Kelsey said. “We haven’t played against a team like that, that has pressed us like that. So it was a heck of a test on a really, really big stage.”
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Pinion scored 27 points to lead South Florida (25-9) in a game in which the Bulls missed 20 of their first 21 3-point attempts. Pinion (5-for-14) and fellow sniper Wes Enis (0-for-11) were frozen beyond the arc.
That helped build a 14-point lead for the sixth-seeded Cardinals. But the 11th-seeded Bulls hung around and trailed only 37-27 at the half after recording 10 turnovers and seven steals, and turning them into fast-break chances.
And while the 3s weren't draining, USF controlled the paint early, outscoring Louisville 16-10 inside while shooting a 6-for-6 from the free-throw line.
“I know the critics will say, we took too many 3s,” Hodgson said. “I think we missed some really good ones. Did we take some bad ones? Sure. But we've had our identity offensively all year. It's been very successful. Most efficient offense in the history of the program.”
USF entered the game with the nation’s eighth-best offense in averaging 87.7 points per outing, and topped 100 points six times.
The Bulls' defensive pressure forced 22 turnovers and finished with 15 steals, generating 24 points off turnovers and 18 fast-break points.
"We could have won this game," Hodgson said. "Louisville won the game today. I wouldn't mind playing Louisville again. All credit to them. We instill that in these young men to carry themselves with confidence every single day. They're confident and loyal, hard-working young men."
The Cardinals (23-10) move on to play Saturday in the second round against Michigan State.
McKneely, who led the Cardinals with 23 points, hit 7 of 10 3-point attempts.
The Bulls were making just their fourth tournament appearance and first since reaching the Sweet 16 in 2012.
Louisville won its first NCAA tournament game since Rick Pitino’s final season as coach.
