TAMPA, March 4 – “On any day, we can beat any team in the country,” Head Coach John Thompson III has said after many of his team’s wins this season.

But Thompson always adds the caveat: “And on any day, we can lose to any team.”

Six weeks ago against Duke, the Georgetown men’s basketball team came to believe the first part.

On Saturday night against the University of South Florida, a squad that had not won a single game in conference play in its first season as a member of the Big East, the team learned that the second part is true too.

The No. 20 Hoyas suffered an ugly collapse and allowed the Bulls (7-22, 1-15) to take a 63-56 win in front of 6,088 on Senior Night at the Sun Dome.

That loss denied the Hoyas a bye in the Big East tournament as well as their first 20-win season since 2000-01. Now Georgetown (19-8, 10-6), occupying fifth place, will face Notre Dame for the second time this season in the tournament’s first round.

“Is it a little disappointing? Hell, yes,” Thompson said. “This time of year, everything is important. This time of year, we have to be at the top of our game. . We need all the parts to show up, from me on down.”

The Hoyas’ inside men, sophomores Jeff Green and Roy Hibbert, were ineffective against the Bulls. Green never established any rhythm, making only one basket in eight attempts and adding the rest of his 10 points on free throws.

Hibbert, meanwhile, could not replicate the quickness of South Florida’s 6-foot-10 senior center Solomon Jones. Jones, who averages 12.9 points per game, lit up the scoreboard with a career-high 23.

South Florida Head Coach Robert McCullum said that he had hoped that Jones would be successful when Georgetown played man-to-man defense, because Jones “could cause Hibbert matchup problems.”

Jones played all 40 minutes while Hibbert saw just 21 minutes of action and scored four points.

But the two sophomores posed the lesser of the Hoyas’ several problems. The team failed in its traditional strong suits, back-door cuts and perimeter shots. In the paint, Georgetown missed easy opportunities as layups rattled off the rim and flew off the glass.

And three pointers, which had made the difference in the teams’ first meeting, a 50-47 Hoya win, came few and far between. On Jan. 17, fifth-year Darrel Owens had gone 4-of-8 from long range for a game-high 20 points, leading his team to victory. In the rematch, Georgetown only put up four threes on the night, and no player had more than one attempt. Owens and senior Ashanti Cook sank the team’s only two successful shots from beyond the arc.

With nothing left in the Hoyas’ offensive arsenal, there were shot-clock violations, passes out of bounds, balls stolen, charges and traveling calls – including three on senior Brandon Bowman, who had six turnovers on the night.

Having the longest break of the conference season leading into Saturday’s contest, a six-day break after a 68-53 win over Syracuse, proved to be disastrous against the Bulls.

“You have a week off and we’re not as sharp as we should be,” Thompson said. “It’s not an excuse, but it is part of the equation.”

Neither team showed precision on the offensive glass as the two squads combined for just three offensive rebounds in the first half. Both teams ended with five, a stark contrast from the 18 the Hoyas nabbed last week against the Orange.

South Florida pulled out to an early lead, going up 21-11 after junior forward Melvin Buckley (12 points) hit the third of three straight from beyond the arc. But Cook responded with a three of his own and later fed Owens for a rare successful back-door cut, and Georgetown was down by four.

The Bulls opened the lead back to nine as sophomore Colin Dennis nailed a three-pointer.

But the Hoyas went on a 10-0 run to close out the first half to take a 31-30 lead into the locker room. Owens hit a trey from the corner and later sank three free throws after drawing a foul on junior forward McHugh Mattis. Sophomore Jon Wallace also dropped in two free throws and freshman Jessie Sapp capped off the run with a jumper just before the buzzer.

After a sub-par first 20 minutes, it seemed as though the tide had turned in the Hoyas’ favor.

The start of the second half saw the teams stay neck and neck but Georgetown could not pull ahead or convert consecutive possessions. Slowly the game slipped from its grasp.

USF earned the first two-score lead of the second half with seven minutes to play. Though the Hoyas managed to hit free throws and cut the Bulls’ advantage to 49-48, the Bulls answered with a small 8-2 run, moving ahead by three possessions with two minutes to play.

Georgetown’s offensive ineptitude spelled the team’s doom during the closing minutes, as it squandered three straight chances by missing a back-door play, running out the 35-second clock and Sapp charging a defender.

South Florida converted its free throws to lock up its first Big East win and prevent a winless inaugural campaign in the conference.

“Do you have to have a loss to learn a lesson? Do you have to lose five [games to close out the regular season] last year to learn that you have to bounce back and that can’t happen?” Thompson said. “Maybe as a group we do. But we need to bounce back. This is not the time of year, if we are fortunate enough to move on . to dwell on losses. We have to bounce back quickly. The recovery period has to be quick.”

It just so happened that all of Saturday’s five Big East matchups were won by the home team, including an upset victory by Cincinnati (19-11, 8-8) over No. 18 West Virginia (20-9, 11-5), padding the Bearcats’ resume and taking them one step closer to the NCAAs.

Georgetown and Notre Dame (15-12, 6-10) will tip off Wednesday afternoon at Madison Square Garden immediately following the completion of the opening contest between Syracuse and Cincinnati. The Orange and the Bearcats begin play at noon.