Tampa Tribune 1/6/12: South Florida gets road win at Villanova
Bulls earn Big East road win at Villanova
By AARON BRACY
The South Florida men’s basketball team finally got a taste of road success.
The Bulls earned their first victory away from home this season, defeating Villanova, 74-57, Thursday night at the Pavilion.
Not only is it USF’s first road win of this season, but just the Bulls’ seventh road victory in seven seasons since joining the Big East.
Also, the victory was only the second against Villanova in the last 53 games at the Pavilion, the Wildcats’ on-campus home court. Their only other loss at the cozy, 6,500-person venue came last Feb. 12 to Pitt.
“I saw us getting close,” USF coach Stan Heath said. “We’ve been knocking on the door. We had been in some other games. We just couldn’t continue on.”
Jawanza Poland matched his career high with 20 points, and the Bulls outrebounded the Wildcats, 38-26. Blake Nash added 12 points and Toarlyn Fitzpatrick chipped in 10 for the Bulls (9-7, 2-1 Big East).
Heath knew coming in the Bulls would have a chance against the Wildcats (7-8, 0-3), who feature a young team with five freshmen and no seniors.
The Cats got even younger on Thursday when coach Jay Wright benched juniors Maalik Wayns and Dominic Cheek for a minor issue in practice and started four of his freshmen. Both Wayns and Cheek entered the game early in the contest and the benching didn’t factor into the outcome.
“We just felt like coming in here, Villanova was a little young, coming off a couple of losses, and if we played well we would have a chance,” Heath said.
Poland was big down the stretch for the Bulls. He scored seven of nine points during a pivotal 9-2 Bulls run late in the second half after Villanova had trimmed USF’s 12-point advantage to 48-45 with 9 minutes, 3 seconds remaining.
“Don’t get scared, stay aggressive, punch back and stay aggressive,” Poland said was the message during the team’s timeout after Villanova pulled within three points.
The spurt gave USF a 57-47 lead with 5:49 remaining. The advantage was 11 when Victor Rudd Jr. slammed home two points after a pretty no-look feed from Nash.
Poland, who missed the first 11 games with a back injury, said he is finally rounding into complete health.
“I feel real good out there playing running up and down the court,” he said. “I feel like I’m up 100 percent.”
Heath noticed the play.
“Jawanza stepped up in big way and really carried that load,” Heath said.
NOTE: USF guard Anthony Collins injured his head after falling hard to the floor on a layup attempt in the first half. He played only 17 minutes and Heath said he would be re-evaluated today.
