The USF Bulls were looking to get back on the winning track Thursday night after getting throttled by Georgetown last Saturday. They did just that as they cruised to a 63-51 victory over the Pitt Panthers.

The two Big East squads played an even game in the first half for the most part. The Bulls would go into halftime with a 27-24 lead after Jawanza Poland hit a three point buzzer-beater.

USF would pull away in the second as they would roll to the victory. Hugh Robertson led the Bulls with 18 points and Anthony Collins chipped in with 11. The Green and Gold shot a sparkling 60% from the field.

Robertson also shut down Pittsburgh's Ashton Gibbs, who only scored four points.

Pittsburgh had won four games in a row since regaining the services of leading scorer Tray Woodall, and had averaged 80 points in those victories.

The Bulls are now a surprising 7-4 in the Big East. They head up north to take on Providence Saturday at 4.

USF vs. Pittsburgh

When/where: 7 p.m.; Tampa Bay Times Forum, Tampa

TV/radio: BHSN; 620-AM

Records: Pittsburgh 15-9, 4-7 Big East; USF 13-10, 6-4

Notable: Here are two teams coming from decidedly different directions. USF is coming off a 30-point loss at Georgetown, its most lopsided conference loss since joining the Big East in 2005, while Pittsburgh has surged to four wins in a row with the healthy return of PG Tray Woodall. … The Bulls are struggling to score; Augustus Gilchrist, averaging 11 points, is the only USF player averaging double-digits. … USF needs PG Anthony Collins to hit enough shots that defenses don't ignore him, as Georgetown did; Collins is averaging 6.4 points, mostly on drives and free throws.

Courtesy of the Tampa Bay Times.

Andrell Smith led three USF players in double figures with 18 points, but the Bulls failed to contain the Orange offense in a 76-61 loss at Syracuse on Saturday. 

Kaneisha Saunders posted 10 points, while senior Jasmine Wynne extended her double-digit scoring streak to 20 game with 10 points in the Bulls’ third straight loss. USF (12-12, 4-6) trailed by a 31 with 7:10 remaining and made the final result somewhat close by closing the game on a 24-8 run. 

“I was pleased with the effort,” head coach Jose Fernandez said. “They brought it back and it was a respectable score, but we never gave ourselves a chance in the second half.”

Smith’s 18 points tied her career high set on Nov. 13 against Minnesota and the junior finished one shy of her top single-game rebounding mark with eight.

USF forced Syracuse (15-9, 4-6) into 26 turnovers, but turned the ball over 20 times itself and got outrebounded, 46-35 on the boards. The Orange grabbed 28 of those on the defensive end.

Recap courtesy USF athletics.

The USF Bulls, winners of four of their last five games, traveled up to the nation's capital for a Saturday morning matchup against #14 Georgetown.

The game was fully expected to be a defensive battle, but what wasn't expected was the sloppy play by the Bulls in the first half. Through the first 15:00 of the game, the Bulls turned the ball over eight times, found themselves on the wrong end of an 11-0 run by the Hoyas, and were held scoreless for 10:54 until Augustus Gilchrist hit a three ball with 4:12 left in the half.

The Bulls anemic offense sputtered into the half trailing the Hoyas 23-15.

That is about as good as it got for the Bulls.

Georgetown opened the second half with a 16-4 run to completely blow the game wide open, gaining as much as a 30 point lead at one point on the Bulls.

The lone bright spot for the Bulls was the play of Augustus Gilchrist, who finished the game shooting 5-11 from the field, ending with 15 points. Unfortunately, the rest of the team was just 11-40 from the field and turned the ball over 22 times.

USF falls to 13-10 overall and 6-4 in conference play. They look to rebound from this ugly Big East loss Wednesday night at the Tampa Bay Times Forum against Pittsburgh.

USF WR coach, Phil McGeoghan, has taken the assistant receivers coach position with the Miami Dolphins.

The Bulls don't only lose a key part to their coaching staff, but McGeoghan is one of USF's top recruiters. He was the primary recruiter for the exciting four-star tight end Sean Price, who was signed on Wednesday.

McGeoghan was one of the only coaches coach Skip Holtz kept from Jim Leavitt's staff.

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