TULSA, Okla. — Freshman PJ Haggerty scored a career-high 32 points, including 26 in the second half, as Tulsa defeated No. 24 South Florida 76-70 on Saturday, snapping the nation’s longest winning streak at 15 games.
Tulsa (16-14, 7-11 American Athletic Conference) held USF to 30% shooting in the second half, coming back from a 37-31 halftime deficit.
Haggerty, the conference’s 13-time freshman of the week and nation’s leading freshman scorer at 20.6 points per game, scored 10 points of a 16-5 Tulsa run, prompting South Florida to take a timeout with 8:10 to play. Cobe Williams, who added 23 for Tulsa, hit a 3-pointer out of the break. Haggerty continued to pour it on from there, scoring Tulsa’s next 10 points to give Tulsa a 69-58 lead with 2:33 remaining.
South Florida (23-6, 16-2) pulled within 70-67 on a tip-in by Kasean Pryor with 1:20 left, but Tulsa made 6 of 9 free throws from there.
Pryor led South Florida with 29 points and 11 rebounds. Chris Youngblood had 12 points, and Selton Miguel had 11 for the Bulls.
Pryor, a 6-10 junior, had 15 in the first half on 5 of 6 shooting, including going 2 of 3 on 3-pointers, exceeding his 12.1 scoring average by halftime.
Tulsa shot 52% in the second half.
BIG PICTURE
South Florida: The Bulls became ranked for the first time in school history last week and will be the No. 1 seed in the AAC Tournament next week.
Tulsa: A year after going 5-25 in Eric Konkol’s first season, the Golden Hurricane improved considerably, led by Haggerty, Tulsa's freshman scoring record holder who exceeded his previous high of 30 against Rice. It was Tulsa’s first victory over a ranked team since a 65-64 win over No 5 Houston on Dec. 29, 2020.
UP NEXT
Both teams will head to Fort Worth, Texas, for the American Basketball Championship at Dickies Arena. South Florida has a first-round bye and will play its first game Friday. Tulsa will play a first-round game Thursday.
