USF’s next challenge: Bouncing back

Posted Feb 7, 2010 by Scott Carter

Updated Feb 7, 2010 at 11:09 PM

At first, it looked like USF was going to get blown out Sunday at Notre Dame. The Bulls fell behind by 15 points in the first half before coming back to tie the game at halftime.

Then, at one point in second half it seemed as if the Bulls were about to pull away behind the play of senior guard Chris Howard, who scored a career-high 23 points.

In the end, Notre Dame escaped with a 65-62 win to snap USF’s four-game winning streak in the Big East. The Bulls are back to under .500 (5-6) in the conference with seven games remaining.

USF has all week to prepare for Saturday’s game at Marquette, another middle-of-the-pack Big East team trying to play its way off the NCAA bubble.

Here are a few thoughts on Sunday’s loss to the Irish:

** This loss could come back to haunt the Bulls if they play well down the stretch and find themselves fighting for an NCAA Tournament berth with Notre Dame. The Irish’s win Sunday gave it a sweep in the season series over the Bulls, and head-to-head meetings always play a huge factor when it comes to choosing bubble teams.

** Dominique Jones was due to have a shooting performance like Sunday’s 3-of-17 effort. Notre Dame’s Ben Hansbrough and Tory Jackson defended Jones well, forcing Jones into more of a floor leader at time. He led the Bulls with eight assists, but Jones must score more than 10 points to give the Bulls a real strong chance at winning.

** Alex Rivas is nothing more than a role player at this point in his career, but really admired the way he played Notre Dame’s Luke Harangody tough on Sunday. Rivas banged inside with Harangody, often frustrating the Big East’s leading scorer. Harangody made only 5 of 17 shots, but still ended up with 19 points and 15 rebounds, including an 8-for-8 performance from the free-throw line.

** A big game by junior Jarrid Famous (18 points, 8 rebounds) kept the Bulls close late, but Famous’ missed free throw with 8.1 seconds proved very costly. Instead of tying the game, USF had to foul Harangody, who made both of his free throws to give Notre Dame a 3-point lead. Overall, free-throw shooting was a sore spot for the Bulls. They hit only 10 of 20 compared to Notre Dame knocking down 17 of 21.

** Toarlyn Fitzpatrick, Mike Mercer and Anthony Crater combined for 82 minutes Sunday, but the trio made just 4 of 17 shots and scored nine points. They needed to be more productive scoring with Jones having an unusual off game.

** Finally, USF committed just five turnovers for the second time in the last three games and has just 18 over that span. The Bulls are taking such good care of the basketball that if they had shot better Sunday, their free-throw woes would not have been a factor.