USF stuns No. 7 Georgetown

The rumbles from the University of South Florida basketball team in the past two weeks hinted the Bulls were shifting away from their reputation as a Big East doormat.

Eyes opened. Whispers of a postseason appearance began. Yet there was still work to do.

"Coach told us if we want to be a tournament team, we have to do special things," guard Dominique Jones said.

Stunning a top-10 team on the road just might qualify.

The Bulls rallied from a double-digit deficit, shocking No. 7 Georgetown 72-64 to collect their fourth straight victory and firmly place themselves in NCAA Tournament discussion less than six weeks before Selection Sunday.

Jones scored 29 points for the Bulls (15-7, 5-5 Big East), who beat a ranked team on the road for the first time since Feb. 24, 1992, at Tulane.

"I'll be brutally honest: I'm really amazed at our team," Coach Stan Heath said. "This was the best win in our school history."

Austin Freeman and Greg Monroe each scored 21 points for the Hoyas (16-5, 6-4), who only four days earlier routed Duke on the same floor.

Early on, it seemed the Bulls might suffer the same fate. Jones, who entered averaging 26.8 points in league play, needed more than 11 minutes to score his first points.

"I'm pulling out my hair - all the hair that I have - figuring out what play we can run and what we can do to get this guy (going), because if we don't get him involved, we're done," Heath said. "We're toast."

Even when Jones finally got started, it didn't change the Bulls' initially shoddy defense. In the early moments, Monroe eviscerated USF inside. After the Bulls provided help in the post, Freeman connected several times from the perimeter.

Georgetown's lead grew to 35-22, but the Bulls didn't wilt and instead closed within nine by halftime.

"We always look back at the Providence game," said USF guard Mike Mercer (12 points). "We came back. There was 50 seconds left and we were down by nine. No lead is untoppable, so we felt like we would be able to come back pretty easily."

He was right. The Bulls forced the usually sure-handed Hoyas into 14 turnovers, regularly exploiting the miscues. The deficit was gone less than eight minutes into the second half. By the time Mercer made a floater with 7:59 to go, the Bulls led 52-44.

"I just told everybody we have to turn it up on D," Jones said. "It started with me. I got a steal, I got a dunk and everybody got hyped. When we put in our defense, people can't score on us like that. We held it down."

The Bulls handled the final moments well, punctuating the victory with Mercer's fast-break dunk with a second left. A celebration ensued, the Bulls' hopes of an NCAA tourney appearance coming closer to fruition - perhaps faster than even Heath could have expected.

"These guys are amazing," Heath said. "They really are. I've always believed in them, I've had confidence in them, but they keep raising the bar.

"As long as they keep doing it, I keep doing it."