Recap: South Florida vs. Villanova

New York, NY (Sports Network) - Anthony Collins scored 17 points and handed out four assists in his postseason debut to lead the sixth-seeded South Florida Bulls to a 56-47 second round victory over the 14th-seeded Villanova Wildcats in the 2012 Big East Conference Tournament at Madison Square Garden.

Victor Rudd Jr. added 13 points for the Bulls (20-12), who will advance to the Thursday's quarterfinal round to take on the third-seeded Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Rudd Jr. and Augustus Gilchrist grabbed six boards each for USF.

Mouphtaou Yarou paced Villanova (13-19) with 20 points. Maalik Wayns struggled after a strong first round performance, as he finished with just nine points after making only three of his 14 of his field goal attempts. The Wildcats elimination from the conference tourney snapped their seven-year streak of appearances in the NCAA Tournament.

The Bulls took a 27-17 lead into the intermission after they held the Wildcats to 20 percent shooting from the field in the opening period. USF managed to make 42.9 percent of its attempts from the floor to take control in the first half.

Villanova battled back after the break and Yarou drained a three-pointer to cut the deficit to five points with just under a minute left to play. The Bulls scored the next four points to end the Wildcats' threat and secure the victory. USF was able to hang on despite committing 11 turnovers in the final 20 minutes of play.

The Bulls held a 37-25 advantage in the rebounding battle and converted 22- of-29 attempts at the charity stripe in the contest to push past Villanova.