USF opened Big East play with an impressive 68-45 win against Rutgers in the Sun Dome on Wednesday night, getting 24 points from freshman Dominique Jones and 20 points and 17 rebounds from center Kentrell Gransberry.

The win -- by one more point than last year's win against Rutgers -- is USF's most lopsided conference victory since joining the Big East in 2005-06. The Bulls have gone 4-28 in the conference over the past two seasons, but Wednesday's game was a resounding win to give USF confidence going into a game at Syracuse on Saturday.

I had a family emergency come up where I'm not at the Sun Dome tonight, so that's why I haven't had the usual live blog. Here's the story from the Times' Izzy Gould -- you can talk about the Bulls' win here ...

Oh, and so much for USF's women trying to get a quality win at Vanderbilt -- the Bulls had it rough in Nashville, taking a 75-48 loss to the Commodores. Two starters -- center Jessica Lawson and point guard Jazmine Sepulveda -- went scoreless for the Bulls and a combined 0-for-12 from the field. Guard Daiane Packer led the Bulls with 11 off the bench; USF has to regroup quickly for its Big East opener Saturday against a ranked West Virginia team.