Tulane University
South Florida
Men's Basketball Falls To South Florida, 85-70
Jan 13, 2001 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 13, 2001
TAMPA, Fla. - Senior Ledaryl Billingsley (Chicago, Ill.) and junior Linton Johnson (Chicago, Ill.) once again had big games, but once again, the lack of depth for Tulane University led to an 85-70 loss to the University of South Florida on Saturday evening at the Sun Dome.
Billingsley scored 23 points, including a career-best two three-pointers, while Johnson tallied 19 points and a career-high 16 rebounds. Johnson also had five assists, two steals and a block while hitting all six of his free throws. Sophomore Brandon Spann (New Orleans, La.) was also in double figures for the Wave with 14 points and a team-high six assists.
Tulane (7-8, 0-3 C-USA) struggled early in the game, committing 13 first-half turnovers against the press of South Florida (11-4, 3-0). And the Bulls capitalized, scoring 14 points off the Wave's first-half turnovers. However, Tulane coach Shawn Finney's thin bench gave him little options for reinforcements.
After trailing, 44-28, at the break, the Wave recovered for a strong second half. The Bulls pushed the lead to 18 at 56-38 with 15:06 to go on a rebound dunk by All-American B.B. Waldon (game-high 28 points, 11 rebounds), but the Wave responded with a 13-6 run capped by a three-pointer from freshman Justin Amick (Atlanta, Ga.), which made it 62-51 with 8:47 to go.
Tulane could not continue the rally, however, and South Florida followed with a 12-4 run of its own, building the lead to 19 at 74-55 with 3:53 to go. As it has done all year, Tulane did not quit. Billingsley scored eight points, including both of his three-pointers, to key a 9-1 run which again cut the deficit to 11 at 75-64. However, just 1:29 remained and South Florida converted 8-of-10 free throws in the final 90 seconds of the contest, wrapping up its third straight victory.
"I have to give South Florida credit," Finney said. "They got us on our heels early in the game. We did not play aggressive like we needed to. In the second half, we got more aggressive and did a much better job handling their pressure.
"We competed right to the end," Finney continued. "We did a much better job tonight on the road than we did against UAB. If we can get Linton Johnson and Ledaryl to play that way every night, we will be competitive in this league. We ask Linton to do a little bit of everything and tonight he did a great job."
South Florida, the preseason pick to win the National Division of Conference USA, has now opened the league slate with three wins, its best start ever in the conference. The Bulls have also held their last 10 opponents below 40 percent shooting from the field. Despite shooting 51.9 percent (14-of-27) in the second half, Tulane shot just 38.6 percent for the game, due to a 26.7 percent first half. South Florida scored 51.6 percent of its attempts. The Green Wave held a 39-35 edge on the boards, snapping a two-game stretch in which it had been out-rebounded.
"I'm happy we won the basketball game," South Florida coach Seth Greenberg said. "We ran out of gas in the second half. But give them credit, they were the reason we ran out of gas. Those guys competed and played hard while making us defend all game."
In addition to Waldon's 28 points, Altron Jackson scored 25 points, 20 of those in the decisive first half. Cedric Smith added 13 points and a game-high seven assists for the Bulls.
Tulane is back in action on Wednesday, playing its final non-league game of the season at Mississippi State on Wednesday evening in Starkville. The Wave returns home next Saturday, hosting UAB at 7 p.m. in Tulane's first rematch of the season.
