TAMPA, Fla. – The Wofford men's basketball team visited South Florida on Thursday, losing the contest 69-55.
The Terriers were efficient from the floor, going 22-for-46 (47.8%) while hitting 6-of-19 shots from 3-point range and grabbing 24 rebounds. South Florida had a strong night from the field as well, connecting on 55.3 percent of its shots, going 9-for-20 from downtown (45%). The two sides were even in assists (11) and steals (9), while points off turnovers favored the Bulls 27-14.
"They went to a four-guard lineup and made a couple threes early," Wofford head coach Jay McAuley said of South Florida. "Credit to them, they came out and made some shots and settled in, and we were playing catchup the rest of the night."
Nathan Hoover had a team-high 11 points for Wofford, while Chevez Goodwin scored nine points to go with four rebounds. Storm Murphy, Trevor Stumpe and Messiah Jones each totaled six points, while Ryan Larson dished out seven assists while picking up a career-high five steals.
The loss drops the Terriers to 2-4, as the team will cap off its four-game road swing on Tuesday when it travels to the University of Maryland Eastern Shore to face the Hawks at 6 p.m.
"We've gone on the road to three hostile environments," McAuley said of its last three games (Butler, Missouri, South Florida). "We've got some things to iron out, we've got to improve on the defensive end, but I thought for stretches of each game we really played tough."
The teams traded buckets to start, as Goodwin made the score 12-10 in favor of the Bulls six minutes into the game. South Florida looked to gain control, going on a 12-3 run that made the score 24-13. Goodwin found a cutting Donovan Theme-Love and scored in the paint as the Terriers cut the deficit to seven with under seven to play.
The Bulls responded, scoring 14 of the next 16 points in the game, capping off the run with a four-point play from Justin Brown. Jones would break the drought for the Terriers after a nice feed from Murphy down low set up a layup. Hoover hit a trey and floater in the lane before time expired, as Wofford went into the break trailing 43-28.
South Florida picked up where it left off in the second half, draining a three to open the second as buckets were hard to come by for either team early. The Bulls would eventually extend their lead to 24 before Hoover scored in the lane, Larson drew a charge and found Jones in the paint before snagging a steal and handing out an assist to Jones that made the score 52-34.
"Ryan is one of our toughest guys and that's why he's out there," McAuley said of Larson. "We're not a big lineup but he gets after it with his tenacity and his ability to guard the ball. He'll have to continue to do that, and hopefully that bleeds into the rest of the team."
Larson continued to make plays but the Terriers could not significantly cut into the deficit, as South Florida answered time and again on the offensive end, ultimately taking the game 69-55.
"South Florida had eight days to prepare and get better at some things," McAuley said. "But I think we just need to get back home and practice and work on ourselves."
