TAMPA, Fla. — Auburn junior guard Frankie Sullivan made a surprise comeback Wednesday night for the Tigers.

Unfortunately, his 4 points in limited action weren’t enough for Auburn, as the Tigers fell 61-49 to South Florida.

Sullivan, who underwent reconstructive surgery July 27 after tearing his ACL in summer workouts, played nine minutes against the Bulls. All 4 of his points came at the end of the first half, when he was fouled on a 3-point attempt. Sullivan made the 3 and then made the foul shot.

Andre Malone scored a game-high 18 points for the Tigers and Earnest Ross added 11 in the Tigers’ second consecutive road loss.

South Florida (6-5), which is now 5-1 at home, scored 9 straight points to take a 13-5 lead 5 minutes into the game. But Auburn (3-6) picked up its defense and held South Florida scoreless for 6:18 using a 13-0 run to take a 19-17 lead on a pair of Ross free throws with 6:59 left in the half.

The Tigers then hit a dry spell for 5:12, with their only points coming from Sullivan’s play just before the break, making it 28-24.

“It looked like they had men on the floor and we had boys on the floor,” said Auburn head coach Tony Barbee. “We have a way to go there. It’s not how big you are, it’s the size of the fight inside of you.”

The Tigers scored only 4 points in the first 7:30 of the second half as they fell behind 39-28. Auburn never got closer than 6 points at 39-33 the rest of the way.

Auburn shot only 34 percent from the field for the game and was outrebounded 40-28, while South Florida shot 43.6 percent from the floor. It was the Bulls’ first win over a SEC team since 1995.

Jarrid Famous led the South Florida with 15 points, while Hugh Robertson added 12 points and Ron Anderson Jr., scored 8 points and grabbed a game-high 12 boards.

Auburn returns home for the first time in almost two weeks to play host to Presbyterian on Saturday at 7 p.m.