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Bulls Eager To Take Next Step

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By BRETT McMURPHY | The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 10, 2009

TAMPA - To put the University of South Florida's recent struggles on the basketball court in perspective, consider this eye-opening statistic:

In USF's last 100 regular-season conference games dating to 2003 in Conference USA and the Big East, the Bulls have managed back-to-back victories exactly one time. That occurred under former coach Robert McCullum in 2005 with consecutive victories against Southern Miss and Tulane.

So as big as USF's upset of No. 8 Marquette was Friday night, tonight's game against Providence could be viewed as even bigger for the program.

"I don't want it to be a Christmas experience where it happens once a year and you're done," USF coach Stan Heath said. "I want that to be every time we play a really good team we have a really good chance to win and we get our fair share of wins."

A victory against the Friars (14-9, 6-5 Big East) would give the Bulls (8-14, 3-7) four Big East wins - they've never won more than three - and their first back-to-back wins in Big East play.

"This game will probably be the biggest game of the season," USF freshman forward Eladio Espinosa said. "Actually it will be the changer.

"Normally when we beat a team, we're like, 'we're good,' and we slack off and lose the next game to some team we shouldn't. If we beat Providence, it's a building block. We can keep working harder and harder and keep moving forward."

Since joining the Big East in 2005, the Bulls are 10-50 in conference play. The Bulls never followed up any of those wins with a victory, although the Bulls came close in 2008 (a 74-73 overtime loss to UConn) and in 2007 (a 70-68 loss to Marquette and a 66-62 loss to St. John's).

"I'm very curious to see how we respond," Heath said.

Providence coach Keno Davis is probably curious which Friars team will show: the one that tied a school-record with 17 3-pointers against Villanova on Wednesday or the one that made only one 3-pointer three days later at West Virginia?

The Friars are the conference's worst defensive team, while the Bulls are the league's worst offensive team.

"We want our team to get to the point where they expect to compete and beat everybody that they play," Heath said. "Are we there yet? No. We know we still have some flaws on our team, we didn't all of sudden flip on a switch with the Marquette win and we're there.

"We know we have a ways to go. I want our team to know if we play a certain way, we legitimately have a chance."

Besides getting a record fourth Big East win and its first back-to-back Big East wins, Heath said a win tonight is important for other reasons.

"We continue to want to take steps. A victory would be another step forward," Heath said.

Reporter Brett McMurphy can be reached at (813) 259-7928.

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