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BIG EAST TOURNAMENT
DAY TWO DAY SESSION
Game 5: (8) Georgetown 69, (9) South Florida 49
For the select few who take the time to operate office pools for the National Invitation Tournament, please welcome a new competitor to fill a space in your brackets: the University of South Florida Bulls.
The NCAA Tournament dreams for USF, seeking its first bid since 1992, ended in the second round of the Big East Tournament on Wednesday with a 69-49 blowout loss to 22nd-ranked Georgetown. Greg Monroe and Jason Clark each scored 16 points to lead the eighth-seeded Hoyas. Dominique Jones led South Florida with 21 points and five rebounds.
Ice-cold shooting plagued South Florida (20-12) throughout the first half, as the Bulls went only 4-of-18 in the first twelve minutes of the game, including a 1-15 stretch over a ten-minute span. In fact, during the first 14 minutes of action, Georgetown’s Chris Wright, who finished with 15 points, singlehandedly outscored South Florida 10-9, underlining the offensive issues that plagued the Bulls throughout the day.
After taking a 31-19 lead into halftime, the Hoyas seemed to give USF an opportunity to get back into the game midway through the second half when Julian Vaughn, Greg Monroe, and Hollis Thompson all recorded their fourth personal fouls. The Bulls cut the GU lead to nine with 10:09 remaining. In spite of Georgetown's foul trouble, though, the Bulls failed to capitalize to an even greater extent, and allowed their deficit to again reach double digits even after Vaughn fouled out with nine minutes left.
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The final six minutes belonged solely to the Hoyas, who outscored South Florida 16-8 in the final seven minutes en route to their 21st win of the season and a trip to the quarterfinals on Thursday. South Florida’s offensive woes were presented in summary in the final minute, as Bulls guard Shaun Noriega connected on the team’s first 3-pointer of the tournament with just 20 seconds remaining. It would be the final basket of the afternoon for USF, who was handed its 12th loss.
For South Florida, the NCAA Tournament bubble has certainly burst. With only two wins over the RPI Top 25 - one being over Georgetown in Big East conference play - and no out-of-conference wins of note, the Bulls are headed to the NIT. South Florida is just another borderline team to have fallen by the wayside as March Madness rapidly approaches.
WHAT’S NEXT
The good news for Georgetown is that it has earned a berth in the Big East Tournament quarterfinals. The bad news is that the Hoyas must face a top-seeded and third-ranked Syracuse team that has already beaten them twice in the regular season, by four points at Georgetown and by 17 at the Carrier Dome. After losing 9 of its last 13, Georgetown must regroup quickly and attempt to regain the momentum it captured in the month of January, when GU snagged wins over Seton Hall, Pitt, and Duke. Tip-off for the Georgetown-Syracuse quarterfinal matchup is scheduled for 12:05 p.m. on Thursday, with television coverage provided by ESPN.
By: Brad Cooper
BigEast-fans.com Guest Writer