Rudd leads Bulls men’s hoops past Marist

Posted Nov 14, 2011 by Adam Adkins

Updated Nov 14, 2011 at 11:54 PM

It’s only two games into his stint at the University of South Florida, but Victor Rudd has been as good as advertised so far.

The Bulls sophomore forward had a breakout game Monday night, scoring a game-high 30 points to lead USF to an 81-67 victory in front of an estimated 500 people at the St. Pete Times Forum. Rudd did most of his damage in the second half, scoring 20 after intermission to help the Bulls pull away and improve to 2-0 on the season.

“I’ve been bragging on him for a while, and I didn’t want to eat crow, but I think we saw a glimpse of how talented the young man is,” USF coach Stan Heath said of Rudd, who finished 11 of 21 from the floor. “He did step up and he did it the way I’ve been preaching to him. Sometimes he just wants to rely on his long 3-point shot. When he starts attacking the rim, that’s what makes him a tough player because now he can hurt you in both directions.”

Rudd did both during a key 15-0 second-half run that helped the Bulls take control of the game. He converted a 3-point play after being fouled while driving to the basket and hit a pair of 3-pointers as USF turned a 4-point deficit into a 57-46 lead. The Red Foxes (0-2) never got closer than six the rest of the way.

“I’m just trying to win. I had an opportunity to score a lot of points, but that would be the same for anybody,” said Rudd, who scored 12 in a season-opening win over Vermont. “If they were scoring, they would get the ball just like I did.”

Augustus Gilchrist also had a strong second half to finish with a double double (11 points, 12 rebounds), and the Bulls got a nice spark off the bench from Blake Nash (11 points, three assists) and Hugh Robertson (nine points, seven rebounds). Ron Anderson Jr. also reached double figures with 11 points.

“There’s a lot of things we’ve got to improve on, but I give this team a lot of credit. When we’re getting hit in the face and getting hit in the mouth a little bit, we are responding, we are stepping up,” Heath said. “It’s good to see us figure some things out, get some stops, get some rebounds, get out in transition. We got a hot man like Rudd got going, and we rode him out pretty good. So it was a good team effort.”

USF returns to the court Wednesday against Florida Southern at the Lakeland Center.