Eileen Kroll
(January 25, 2023) – The University of South Florida Bulls (9-12, 2-6 AAC) erased a 10-point second half deficit to Temple (13-9, 7-2 AAC) on Wednesday night, but fell on the road in overtime, 79-76. South Florida defeated rival UCF last time out and Temple upset then-No.
"We tightened things up for that eight-minute stretch in the second half, but we just didn't do enough to win on the road against a tough and talented Temple team. It was a furious final minute of the first half that saw Bryant scored five straight points and Tyler Harris knot the score at 34-34 as time expired. Temple stretched its lead to 27-23 on an eight-point run before Serrel Smith Jr. USF (9) and Temple (10) combined for 19 total turnovers over the first 20 minutes of play.
Wednesday was USF's sixth loss this season by four points of less. Bryant topped his previous scoring high of 19 points, set during the season opener on November 7th. USF shot season-best 91 percent (20-22) from the charity stripe against UCF last Saturday. The Bulls wrap up their two-game road trip with a visit to SMU in Dallas on Sunday, January 29. The USF men's basketball team is led by head coach Brian Gregory , who enters his sixth season in 2022-23. Gregory spent nearly a decade as an assistant coach under Michigan State's Hall of Fame head coach Tom Izzo and helped the Spartans win the 2000 NCAA National Championship.
Gregory owns over 300 career head coaching wins and six postseason appearances, including the 2010 NIT Championship with Dayton. USF has retired three numbers in its history: Chucky Atkins (12), Charlie Bradley (30) and Radenko Dobras (31).
