National Basketball Association
Southern Methodist 92, South Florida 58
When: 2:00 PM ET, Sunday, February 7, 2016
Where: USF Sun Dome, Tampa, Florida
Officials:
# Brent Hampton, # Bryan Kersey, # Mike Stuart
Attendance:
2857
By The Sports Xchange
TAMPA, Fla. -- South Florida proved to be just what SMU needed to get back on the winning track Sunday.
After getting off to an 18-0 start, the 12th-ranked Mustangs had lost two of their last three games before coasting to a 92-58 win over the Bulls.
SMU returned to form by sharing the ball. The Mustangs generated 27 assists while shooting 60 percent and winning the rebound battle, 35-24.
"The whole week, the plan was just to get back to our identity," SMU point guard Nic Moore said. "The past five games we kind of slipped away from that. That was a big emphasis from the coaches, to get back to us."
Both teams were led in scoring by freshmen. SMU guard Shake Milton scored 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting, including 6-of-9 from 3-point range. South Florida guard Jahmal McMurray scored 18 points and had four assists.
SMU improved 20-2 overall and remains alone in first place in the American Athletic Conference at 9-2.
Moore was impressive throughout with 17 points, including 5-of-10 on 3-pointers, and collected eight assists. Fellow guard Sterling Brown scored 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting with five assists.
Up front, SMU forward Jordan Tolbert scored 15 points and gathered five rebounds. Forward Markus Kennedy just missed a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds.
"We knew that they were a talented bunch and a really good passing team, from their bigs to their guards, to their wings," USF coach Orlando Antigua said. "They move the ball really well and when they start making shots like that, it's tough. They can beat anyone in the country."
USF (5-20, 2-10 in the American) was down to six scholarship players for the game, one fewer than SMU, then lost forward Bo Zeigler to an apparent knee injury seven minutes into the game. Walk-on guard Jake Bodway started the second half for USF.
"It's the hand that we're dealt and we've got to try to deal with it as best as we can. That gives another opportunity for someone else to step in," Antigua said. "We've got to keep fighting, we've got to keep trying to execute, controlling the things that you can control.
"It doesn't matter how many guys that you have, there's five guys on the court. They've got to go out and do it."
Center Jaleel Cousins led USF's big men with 13 points and six rebounds.
After coach Larry Brown had made note of ragged play in SMU's previous three games, including losses at Temple and Houston, the Mustangs broke out to an 11-0 lead at USF and never let up.
SMU's lead swelled to 40-18 in the first half on a dunk by Tolbert.
"We had a great, great first half. We moved the ball as well as we ever have," Brown said. "Everybody got involved. ... I thought that's as good a half as we've had in quite a while."
The Mustangs shot 60 percent from the field in the opening half, including 6 of 10 from 3-point range. They ended the half with another poster-quality dunk by Tolbert for a 46-24 lead at the break.
SMU's lead quickly grew to 20 points, 54-24, in the second half. The Mustangs' largest lead was 36 points at 69-33 when Tolbert converted a traditional three-point play with 10:44 left.
NOTES: South Florida PF Chris Perry did not play for a fifth straight game for violating team rules. Perry is averaging 9.7 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. ... F Courtland Sutton saw his first action for SMU in the final minutes of the game. Sutton is a wide receiver on the football team who joined the basketball team recently to bolster SMU's depth. ... Bulls C Jaleel Cousins was coming off his seventh double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds at Cincinnati. ... SMU is now 6-2 on the road this season, including 4-2 in conference play. ... In their first meeting this season, SMU downed USF 72-58 on Jan. 2 in Dallas. The Mustangs lead the all-time series 7-3, and 5-1 since both schools joined the American Athletic Conference.
Top Game Performances
| Southern Methodist |
|
South Florida |
|
Malik Milton 22 |
Scoring |
Jahmal McMurray 18 |
|
Nic Moore 8 |
Assists |
Jahmal McMurray 4 |
|
Markus Kennedy 9 |
Rebounds |
Angel Nunez 9 |
|
Jordan Tolbert 5 |
Free Throws Made |
Angel Nunez 5 |
|
Nic Moore 2 |
Steals |
Ruben Guerrero 3 |
|
Sterling Brown 1 |
Blocks |
Jaleel Cousins 2 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Southern Methodist
|
92 |
60.3 |
14-24 |
8-11 |
27 |
32 |
3 |
8 |
8 |
| South Florida
|
58 |
43.8 |
4-14 |
12-22 |
10 |
22 |
7 |
6 |
12 |
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