Temple eliminated with ugly loss to South Florida

NASHVILLE -- Ugly beat uglier.
Temples NCAA tournament run thudded to a quick end Friday night with a miserable 58-44 loss to South Florida and its suffocating defense in the first round of the Midwest Regional at Bridgestone Arena.
This is the second time in three years Temple has lost as a No. 5 seed to a No. 12 seed in the first round of the NCAAs. The Owls lost to Cornell in 2010 in Jacksonville.
Temple raced out to a 19-8 lead after 13 12 minutes, held South Florida scoreless for 10 12 minutes, held the Bulls without a field goal for nearly 16 minutes, and still lost, thanks to some horrendous second-half shooting against South Floridas suffocating defense.
South Florida outscored Temple 50-25 over the final 26minutes.
USF led by 14 points with 10:45 left before Temple went on an 11-0 run to close within three. But Victor Rudd banked in a wild three with 5:11 left to increase the lead back to six, and a minute later, Temples Khalif Wyatt was called for a technical after he didnt get a foul call on a drive to the basket.
USF got one free throw and another Rudd three, and just like that the lead was back to 10 at 48-38.
And against the best defensive team in Big East history, that was that.
Ramone Moore, the Atlantic 10s second-leading scorer, made just two of nine shots for five points in his final college game, and Juan Fernandez scored just one point in his final game.
Wyatt led Temple with 19 points.
Rudd scored 17 for USF and Anthony Collins added 13.
South Florida, 3-for-27 and 2-for-9 from three in the first half, shot 14-for-23 and 6-for-8 in the second half.
Temple, 5-for-13 and 0-2 before halftime, shot 10-for-28 and 1-for-9 in the second half.
After making their first two baskets, South Florida went 10:39 without scoring and 15:54 without a basket -- from 2:48 into the first half until 2:18 left in the first half. Thats 40 percent of the game without making a field goal.
The Bulls missed 22 consecutive shots during that span, but the best Temple could do while USF kept missing was turn a three-point deficit (5-2) into a seven-point lead (19-12).
So when Shaun Noriego finally ended South Floridas nearly 16-minute basketless stretch with a left-corner three, Temple found itself with only a four-point lead at 19-15 at halftime.
Despite limiting USF to 3-for-27 shooting.
South Florida opened the second half on a 26-8 run to take its biggest lead at 41-26 with 10:45 left in the game before Temple battled back within three points.
The Owls finished the season 24-8. After winning 11 straight games from late January through late February, Temple lost three of its last five games.
After reaching the Elite Eight four times from 1988 through 2001, Temple has now been knocked out of the NCAA tourney four of the last five times its made the tournament and hasnt gotten out of the second round in 11 years. Temple is 1-6 in its last seven NCAA tournament games and has won just once -- last year over No. 10 seed Penn State in Tucson -- since 2001.
This is only the second time since 1983 Temple has failed to win a single game in either its conference tournament, the NCAA tournament or the NIT. It also happened in 2007.
Temple is 1-5 in the tournament under Fran Dunphy and has now lost in the first round as a No. 5 seed to a No. 12 seed two of the last three years. Temple lost to Cornell in 2010 in Jacksonville.
Temple scuffled in the days leading up to the tournament, losing at St. Joes and to U. Mass in the Atlantic 10 first round as the top seed. Temple hadnt played in seven days, hadnt won in 13 days (at Fordham) and had won just two games since Feb. 23.
Temple, making its 30th all-time NCAA tournament appearance, fell to 32-30 in school history in the tourney.
USF, making only its third NCAA appearance and first since 1992, improved to 2-2 in school history in the tourney, with the two wins coming in a three-day span 325 miles apart. South Florida needed a win over Cal in Dayton Wednesday night just to reach the Round of 64.
South Florida, 21-14, advanced to a second-round game here on Sunday against No. 14 seed Ohio, a 65-60 upset winner overMichigan.
Three of South Floridas last six wins this year have come against Big 5 schools, two against Villanova and one against Temple. Including an early season win over Villanova, USF was 4-0 against Philly schools this year.
E-mail Reuben Frank at rfrank@comcastsportsnet.com.