The University of South Florida men's basketball team held Pittsburgh without a point for the first 5 minutes, 35 seconds of Wednesday's night's game. It was an early showing of the type of defense the Bulls played en route to a 63-51 victory.
USF limited the Panthers to 34.6 percent shooting, with Pittsburgh guard Tray Woodall saying the Bulls were the best defensive team he's played in the Big East this season.
"The defense was outstanding," USF coach Stan Heath said. "I'd like to bottle that and take that everywhere we go for the rest of the year if we could."
Helping the Bulls (14-10, 7-4 Big East) to get the victory was a strong rebounding performance.
The Panthers (15-10, 4-8) entered the game with the conference's best rebounding margin. USF outrebounded the Panthers 30-27, led by Ron Anderson Jr.'s six. Of the eight Bulls who played, six grabbed at least three rebounds.
"We had to keep them off the boards and we had to do a job (with) defensive rebounding on our end," Heath said. "Rebounding, to me, is an effort area. You've got to put bodies on people and you've got to go after the ball."
The Bulls shot 60.5 percent — their best field goal percentage in a Big East game — led by Hugh Robertson's 7-for-7 shooting. Robertson scored a season-high 18 points and limited Preseason Player of the Year Ashton Gibbs to a season-low four points on 2-of-9 shooting.
"I'm just trying to be more assertive and looking to score," Robertson said. "Most of the time, I wasn't looking to score, but when I look to score, good things happen."
Next for the Bulls is a trip to Providence on Saturday to play a Friars team it beat 81-78 on Jan. 29.
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