Villanova hands USF worst loss of season, 74-49

More than once Wednesday night, USF men's basketball coach Stan Heath placed his palm on the side of his face and shook his head, baffled by yet another development on the court.
It was that kind of night for the Bulls.

The most worrisome moment for Heath came when Dominique Jones, the player most responsible for USF's postseason push, picked up his fourth foul of the game with 10:21 remaining and the Bulls trailing by seven.

Jones appeared to cleanly block a shot from behind by Villanova's 6-foot-10 Mouphtaou Yarou, but the referees thought otherwise, sending Jones on a full-length jog down the court in disbelief. Heath called his star player to the bench, Yarou made both free throws, and USF was done in a 74-49 loss to the No. 7-ranked Wildcats at a rocking Pavilion.

The Wildcats (23-4, 12-3 Big East) outscored USF 31-12 the rest of the way.

"We've just got to put this one behind us and fix some things here and there,'' Heath said. "It seemed like they shifted into another gear and we didn't match that same intensity level. They just kept hitting, kept swinging, and we never had a response.''

USF's 49 points were a season-low and the Bulls committed 23 turnovers, preventing any sort of rhythm on offense.

"We had a hard time with their activity out there. They were a step quicker than us,'' Heath said. "We just turned that ball over way, way too many times. I thought that was the story of the game for us.''

The loss was USF's worst of the season - surpassing a 21-point loss at Louisville in the Bulls' Big East opener in late December - and the fourth in the last five games for the Bulls.

In a must-win game for USF (16-11, 6-9) to keep its hopes alive of an at-large NCAA Tournament bid, they lacked the kind of urgency a team playing for its first trip to the NCAA Tournament in 18 years needed.

USF fell behind 8-0, forcing Heath to call an early timeout for the second consecutive game. USF fell behind by as many as 14 points in the first half, cutting the lead to 36-25 at the end of the half on Anthony Crater's 3-pointer.

However, trouble signs were all around, none more glaring than Jones' stat line from the first half: 0-for-5 shooting, four points. Jones finished 2-for-10 from the floor, scoring 12 points.

Jones went 24:05 before finally hitting his first shot of the game, a 3-pointer that trimmed Villanova's lead to 41-32. A dunk by Jarrid Famous cut the Wildcats' lead to 41-34, and the Bulls suddenly were back in the game.

Jones hit another 3-pointer to trim Villanova's lead to 43-37 with a little more than 14 minutes remaining, as the Bulls threatened to make a second-half comeback reminiscent of their win earlier this month at Georgetown that catapulted them onto the national radar.

However, as soon as Jones picked up his fourth foul, USF's fortunes quickly changed as the veteran Wildcats, a team some believe can win a championship behind guard Scottie Reynolds, increased their lead back into double digits.

"These kind of games we've got to pull out, we've got to make happen,'' Jones said. "We missed easy shots that we usually make with our eyes closed. I think that fourth foul was the craziest call of my whole career. That's just how things go sometimes.''

Reynolds was at his best in the second half when the game was on the line, making sure Villanova didn't lose for a third consecutive game. He finished with a game-high 21 points.

USF dropped to 0-4 all time against Villanova and 6-9 in the Big East. With three regular-season games remaining, the best the Bulls can hope for is to finish .500 in the conference and make a splash at the Big East Tournament next month at Madison Square Garden.

"No one on this team is laying down,'' Heath said.