Tiger point guard Antonio Burks showed he could be effective with his jumper when he scored a career-high 16 points the last time Memphis and South Florida hooked up. Wednesday night against the Bulls, he showed he could explode.
The sophomore shattered his previous career high with 26 points on 12-of-19 shooting Wednesday as Memphis used a 23-2 second-half run to knock off South Florida, 71-59, before 7,021 at the Sun Dome in Tampa, Fla.
Memphis (21-7, 11-3 in Conference USA), which has now won seven straight against the Bulls, snapped a three-game losing streak while South Florida (17-9, 7-6 in C-USA) was eliminated from National Division title contention and probably from NCAA Tournament consideration.
South Florida, though, looked as if it might give Memphis a fight after rallying to tie the score at 36 going into the break on the strength of a 16-3 run to end the first half. Memphis had led 31-17 late in the first period prior to the run.
The teams exchanged baskets early in the second half before South Florida center Will McDonald’s dunk inside gave the Bulls their biggest lead of the game at 42-46 with 15:33 remaining.
But freshman Dajuan Wagner, who finished the game with 16 points, hit a floater in the lane on Memphis’ next possession and the Tigers connected on their next four shots to ignite a 23-2 run that made the score 65-48 with 7:07 remaining. Memphis made 11-of-15 shots during the run, with Burks and Wagner combining to score 19 of the 23 points.
South Florida senior guard Altron Jackson, who finished with a team-high 16, ended Memphis’ run with his jumper with 6:37 remaining, but South Florida got no closer than 12 the rest of the way.
McDonald added 11 points and 11 rebounds for the Bulls while sophomore guard Jimmy Baxter came off the bench to score nine.
Memphis, C-USA’s best rebounding team, was outrebounded 28-43, but shot 52 percent (30-of-58) from the field for the game compared to 40 percent (21-of-53) for South Florida.
Senior forward Kelly Wise, who has missed portions of the last three games with a strained right knee, scored 12 points and pulled down 9 boards off the bench. Sophomore guard Scooter McFadgon, also playing in a reserve role, added 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting.
The Tigers face DePaul at home Saturday before closing out the regular season against top-ranked Cincinnati on the road.
