After two weeks of winning by the thinnest of margins, Memphis finally got burned on Wednesday evening – and it happened in spectacular fashion.
A 52-32 lead in the second half completely evaporated down the stretch and the Bulls of South Florida stunned the Tigers, winning 74-73, to end Memphis’ 10 game winning streak and hand them their first conference loss of the season.
Memphis climbed into the Top 10 of the AP Poll this week, but they hadn’t exactly been inspiring a lot of confidence with their recent performances.
Outside of a 112-86 win over Wichita State, Memphis needed late game heroics to win their other three AAC games against Tulsa (by 3) SMU (by 3) and UTSA (by six in overtime).
And while it looked like they were well on their way to a blowout against a South Florida team that was 2-1 in conference and 9-5 overall, the Bulls got hot from three and complacency from Hardaway’s team sent them packing.
“This one hurts because we worked so hard to get to this level,” Hardaway said after the game.
It was South Florida’s first win over a ranked team since 2012 and first over a top 10 team since beating Georgetown in February of 2010, and represented a signature win for first year coach Amir Abdur-Rahim, who led Kennesaw State to the NCAA Tournament last year.
“It’s not about us,” Abdur-Rahim said. “It’s about the University of South Florida. … This is a great win for the University of South Florida, and this group of kids who allow us to push them.”
Memphis becomes the latest ranked team to fall to an unranked opponent, but with far fewer opportunities to pick up Quad 1 wins thanks to their conference, every loss is magnified for the Tigers.
Memphis will try to get back on track on Sunday as they head on the road to take on Tulane, with tip-off slated for 1:00 PM ET.