By Carter Brantley
In a tough, double overtime game with over 70 free throws combined by both teams, the USF Bulls took a 109-106 loss on their home court to the UAB Blazers.
In the Bulls’ first game of American Conference play, they got some monster contributions from the usual suspects.
Wes Enis put up 36 points with 10 3 pointers, hitting big bucket after big bucket.
Izaiyah Nelson played his usual stifling brand of defense, but also contributed 23 points and 11 boards.
Unfortunately the biggest blow of the game came when guard CJ Brown fouled out after struggling most of the afternoon with his shot, only posting 8 points on 3-12 shooting from the field.
But the Bulls missed his playmaking dearly in the 2nd overtime, as the offense struggled without his 5 assists on the floor.
UAB managed to get a huge outing off the bench from Chance Westry, who had 24 points and 6 assists on 8-12 shooting from the field.
While it’s a bummer of a start for the Bulls in conference play, they played a very hard-fought game and have no reason to hang their heads based on effort.
They out rebounded UAB 61-49 and had 22 assists as a team.
The biggest thorn in the side of USF was unfortunately their inability to take care of the ball.
The Bulls nearly doubled the turnover total of the Blazers, committing 14 to UAB’s 8.
USF heads to Denton, Texas this Wednesday to take on the North Texas Mean Green, who have taken consecutive losses to begin their conference play against Tulsa and Memphis.
The Bulls have every chance to turn this season into a good one despite the disappointing start, and they certainly showed they have the talent to do so; if Brown stays on the floor, who knows how Sunday’s game turns out?
We’ll see how they bounce back from this loss, as they will undoubtedly want to take advantage of the winnable conference games before playing hefty opponents such as Tulane, Memphis, and Tulsa.
