USF men’s basketball started their season on a strong note, winning 98-53 against UC Santa Cruz (UCSC) at the War Memorial. All 13 Dons who checked into the game contributed to the scoreboard, with three Dons scoring double figures off the bench.
On the first play of the game, junior forward Junjie “Barry” Wang passed to a cutting sophomore guard Tyrone Riley IV, resulting in an open basket. The Dons consistently fed the open man throughout the game, as senior forward Guillermo Diaz-Graham found Wang for an and-one finish on their next score. USF quickly built up a lead of 14-4 five minutes into the game.
The team’s bench expanded the margin to the 20s and then eventually the 30s, which was powered by a career night by sophomore forward Veniamin Abosi, who knocked down three triples in the first half, finishing the game with 11 points. At the 11 minute mark, junior forward David Fuchs threw down a two handed slam off an alley oop pass by grad student and guard Vukasin Masic.
First-year guard Legend Smiley had a strong collegiate debut, highlighted by his plethora of smooth jumpers, leading to him finishing with a team-high 18 points. Smiley shot 7-11 from the field, cashing in three treys.
Oregon transfer Mookie Cook also made a strong USF introduction, providing high level energy on the boards in the first half, grabbing seven rebounds, in addition to eight points. With one minute left in the first half, Cook threw down a clean right-handed tomahawk jam off a baseline cut from a Diaz-Graham dump off pass. Cook finished the game with 12 points and nine rebounds on 6-11 shooting. At the end of the first half, USF held a demanding 51-15 lead.
Although UCSC picked up their scoring input in the second half, the Dons maintained a large lead for the rest of the game, continuing to put on a show for the fans, and winning the game by 45 points. They held their opponent to 33.9% shooting and won the points in the paint battle 48 to 20.
Reflecting on his debut, Smiley said in the post game interview, “It felt great. I wasn’t as nervous because competing with these guys, you got to bring it everyday. The atmosphere, like the fans, I’ve been playing in environments like that for a long time.”
Speaking on Cook’s performance, Riley said, “He’s a dog. [I’ve] been trying to tell him just to play his game, bring energy to the floor, bring energy to the team and he did that today. He was kind of a spark plug for us […] We’re going to need that if we’re going to be successful for him to do that night in and night out.”
Moving to 1-0 on the season, the Dons will travel to play the challenging University of Memphis at the FedEx Forum, home of the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies, on Saturday, Nov. 8.
“This is kind of like a must need win for us. If we’re gonna try to do anything [this year],” Riley said. “We have to win the games that on paper we’re not supposed to win.”
