USF Bulls Gore Connecticut Huskies, Turn Focus on Big East Tournament

The USF Bulls (19-11) knocked off another perennial Big East Power, this time in the form of the Connecticut Huskies (17-14). The Bulls have tallied wins over Georgetown, Pittsburgh, and now Connecticut by the score of 75-68.

Even though they missed getting a first round bye in the Big East tournament, they don’t seem too disappointed. They have their best record since 2002-2003 season, which is the last time they made the NIT.

USF has officially burst the Huskies' bubble. Connecticut will have to win the Big East tournament to go dancing this March. The Huskies finished the season on a three game slide that started last week.

The Bulls seem to be an automatic NIT bid, but there is still a slim chance at the NCAA Tournament. It’s going to take an effort just short of winning the Big East tournament to get any serious consideration, but the Bulls have shown they’ll go toe to toe with anyone in the conference.

Tonight was no difference, as the Bulls were led once again by Dominique Jones. Jones, who had a game high 20 points, had plenty of help from the supporting cast on senior day.

Mike Mercer finished with 12 points and eight rebounds in another solid effort from the senior. His counterpart, another senior, Chris Howard, chipped in 11 points and five assists in his final regular season home game.

Augustus “ Big Gus” Gilchrist has finally shown he’s ready to be part of the Bulls' one two punch. His 17 points came from another great performance in the paint. He’s still conditioning a lot during the week to get back into game shape since missing most of the season with an ankle injury.

He’s not quite back to form, but offensively he’s there. His two blocks and three rebounds got the job done tonight, but it’s still well off his average of 8.9 a game before the injury.

The Bulls shot 66 percent from behind the arc, going 4-for-6. This is a season high and was part of a 50 percent shooting performance from the field. They had plenty of crowd support with the 8,317 fans in attendance to help the seniors off with a win.

The opening round of the Big East tournament will give them conference bottom feeder DePaul (8-22, 1-17). The Bulls squeaked out a win in Chicago earlier this week 63-59. Tip off is at noon on Tuesday at Madison Square Garden.