USF Basketball Team Accidentally Leaves Troy Holston, Geno Thorpe at Airport

University of South Florida basketball players Geno Thorpe and Troy Holston Jr. were briefly stranded in Houston on Thursday night after missing the team's connecting flight home following a road loss to Tulsa.

Marcus DiNitto of the Sporting News reported Saturday the players fell asleep while waiting for the second flight of the evening. By the time they woke up and the coaching staff realized they were missing, it was too late to stop the plane from leaving the airport.

The players eventually made it back to the school after catching a separate flight to the Tampa area about three hours later, according to the Sporting News report.

Collin Sherwin of the Daily Stampede passed along a statement from Bulls interim head coach Murry Bartow, who apologized for the mistake.

"[A]s our team traveled back from Tulsa, two of our players were separated from the rest of our team when we boarded a connecting flight in Houston," he said. "This unfortunate circumstance, for which I apologize, was recognized by our staff as the plane was leaving the gate and not in time to get the players on the commercial flight."

Bartow added: "We immediately began to make arrangements to get the players on the very next flight to Tampa and were in communication with them as soon as was possible. Both players arrived safely home in Tampa later that afternoon, at approximately 4:25 p.m., where a staff member met them at the airport."

Holston's mother, Monique Holston-Greene, didn't mince words after the incident, though. She spoke out to Greg Auman and Joey Knight of the Tampa Bay Times after talking with the coach Friday.

"It's very disappointing, and it's a reflection of how terrible a program the men's basketball program is," Holston-Greene said.

It's been a trying year both on and off the court for South Florida.

The Bulls own a 7-20 record, including a league-worst 1-15 mark in American Athletic Conference, after starting the season 5-3. The struggles led them to fire head coach Orlando Antigua in early January.

Last July, Jeff Goodman of ESPN reported the program was being investigated by the NCAA for "possible academic fraud issues." Goodman noted assistant coach Oliver Antigua, the brother of the team's former head coach, resigned amid the probe after being barred from recruiting trips.

South Florida has two games left in the regular season. It will complete the campaign with a pair of home contests against UCF (March 2) and Temple (March 5).