Make it ten losses in a row for the struggling USF Bulls men’s basketball team as USF goes winless for the month of February in a 64-44 loss to #23 Pittsburgh.  Stan Heath’s crew, who won 22 games last season making the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1992, looked outmatched once again by a ranked Big East opponent.

The Bulls hung around with the Panthers for the entire first half.  The Bulls jumped out to an early eight point lead as Victor Rudd and Toarlyn Fitzpatrick took the offense on their shoulders scoring 10 of their first 14 points.  The two teams found themselves trading small leads throughout the rest of the first half as the Panthers led at halftime by one.

Jamie Dixon’s Panthers turned up the heat in the second half as Pitt took a dominating lead over the struggling Bulls.  A 16-0 run by Pitt led by strong bench scoring and pounding the offensive glass to put the Panthers in a great position to ice the game. 

Dante Taylor finished with a double-double leading Pitt with 12 points off the bench.  The Panthers bench outscored USF’s bench 28-9.  USF was also dominated on the boards 41-21 including 13 offensive boards for the Panthers. 

Rudd led the Bulls with 16 points.

USF (10-17, 1-14 Big East) will return home on Sunday looking to end their losing streak against DePaul (11-16, 2-12 Big East).