TAMPA, Fla. -- Charlotte coach Bobby Lutz made no excuses for the way his team finished the regular season.
Instead, he promised his players will work out the problems before the postseason begins.
"Monday will be the most intense, physical practice we've had all year because it needs to be. We've got to re-establish some things," Lutz said Saturday night after the 18th-ranked 49ers lost their second straight game by double digits, 85-73 to South Florida.
"We've won a lot of big games. We've had a great year. We just had a really bad week. But we've got to fight through that," he said.
Terrence Leather scored 24 points and Brian Swift added 19 to key one of the biggest wins in South Florida's history.
"Outside of us, I doubt anybody thought that we would win this game or even be close, let alone beat them by double digits," Swift said.
Charlotte (21-6, 12-4) performed much of the night like a team that had little to play for after Louisville clinched the Conference USA regular-season title by beating DePaul earlier Saturday.
Two nights after losing at Louisville to fall behind the Cardinals in the standings, the 49ers trailed by 17 before using runs of 10-0 and 9-1 to wipe out most of the big deficit and give themselves a chance to win.
But South Florida (12-15, 5-11) refused to buckle down the stretch. Marius Prekevicius made a key 3-pointer and the Bulls made 11 consecutive free throws before Leather missed a pair in the final minute with USF leading 83-73.
Marlyn Bryant, who had 12 points and 12 rebounds, ensured the outcome with a putback and four free throws that stopped Charlotte's momentum after the 49ers trimmed the deficit to 77-73 on two free throws by E.J. Drayton with 1:50 to go.
Charlotte, which finished the school's best regular season since the 49ers went 22-3 on their way to a Final Four appearance in 1977, will be the No. 2 seed in the C-USA Tournament in Memphis.
Saturday's victory moved South Florida up to the 11th seed.
"I can't think of a better way to go to Memphis," Bulls coach Robert McCullum said. "A win over a top-20 team, final home game for the seniors, the way they did it. ... It was just a great effort."
Brendan Plavich led Charlotte with 20 points, making four 3-pointers during the two spurts the 49ers used to get back into the game. He finished 6-of-14 from behind the arc, but Charlotte was just 8-for-26 as a team.
Curtis Withers had 19 points for the 49ers and Drayton finished with 11.
Leather scored 14 points and Charlotte was held to 36 percent shooting in the first half, when USF fell behind 9-2 before storming to a 41-28 lead.
The 53rd meeting between the schools will be the last for awhile, unless they wind up facing each other in the postseason.
The teams have played at least once a year for 28 consecutive seasons, but are not scheduled to face each other next winter when South Florida moves into the Big East and Charlotte moves on the Atlantic 10.
