TAMPA, Fla. -- Victor Rudd scored 15 of his 23 points and sank all of his 10 free-throw attempts in the second half, leading South Florida to a 72-62 victory over Tennessee Tech in the season opener for both teams Saturday night.

Freshman forward Chris Perry had 14 points and grabbed seven rebounds for the host Bulls, who rested starting point guard Anthony Collins with a swollen knee.

Junior college transfer Ty Allen led all scorers with 25 points for Tennessee Tech. Redshirt sophomore Josiah Moore had 15 in his debut for the Golden Eagles, who trimmed a second-half deficit of 14 points to three with 5:28 to go.

Both teams started slowly on offense. Tech built an 8-6 lead as USF missed all but two of its first 12 shots from the floor. The Bulls hit 61 percent (9 for 14) from that point en route to a 28-19 halftime advantage.

South Florida made 44 percent of its attempts overall (22 for 50). Tennessee Tech finished at 29.6 percent (8 for 27) in the first half and 36.7 (22 for 60) for the game.

Both teams also shot poorly from the free-throw line in the first half. South Florida hit only five of 13 tries before the break. Tennessee Tech made two of seven.

The Bulls hold a 3-0 lead in the all-time series, which has been dormant since 1975.