The Bearcats coasted in the Conference USA tournament Thursday night, allowing Logan and the rest of the starters to take a seat and watch their backups finish off a 79-57 victory over South Florida.

The Bearcats (28-3) advanced to the semifinals and took another step in their drive to get their first No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. They'll play Charlotte, a team they've beaten twice this season, in the semifinals.

Logan, the conference's two-time player of the year, scored 15 points in 23 minutes and settled uncomfortably into one of the cloth-covered folding chairs at courtside with the game in hand.

"You know me - I'm never happy on the bench," Logan said. "But it was for a good cause, and we got some younger players experience."

Cincinnati has won all seven of the conference's regular-season championships with its unrelenting style. Coach Bob Huggins, who rarely gives his starters time off in blowouts, made an exception to keep Logan and the rest of them fresh.

"This is probably going to be good for him," Huggins said. "He's played a lot of minutes this season. This has got to help him."

The Bearcats certainly didn't need him after the first few minutes.

Feeding off the energy from a hometown crowd at an arena 15 minutes from campus, the Bearcats quickly rattled the Bulls (19-12), who were handed their most lopsided defeat of the season.

South Florida fell behind by 29 in the first half, its biggest deficit of the season, and never got closer than 18 the rest of the way even though Cincinnati rested its regulars for most of the second half.

The 57 points were a season-low for South Florida, which shot 35 percent from the field and had 15 turnovers.

"They were just tougher than us, plain and simple," coach Seth Greenberg said. "I thought they were magnificent this evening."

Logan directed an offense that made quick work of South Florida's overmatched front line. Eight of Cincinnati's first nine baskets came from within 3 feet of the rim, a measure of the Bearcats' dominance as they pulled in front 19-4.

"We wanted to send a message to everyone watching us that we were going to come out and play hard," said Leonard Stokes, who had 11 points. "I think we did that tonight."

South Florida got pushed around and intimidated into taking hurried shots, leaving Greenberg fuming.

After one outburst at the officials, referee Sam Croft gave Greenberg a technical foul. When Greenberg continued to argue, referee Tom Rucker ran over and yelled at the coach before the two were separated.

Greenberg insisted his players were getting shoved around.

"When they're that aggressive, they redefine what a foul is," Greenberg said. "There's a toughness about them that makes it hard to blow the whistle."

Huggins started clearing his bench midway through the first half, sending non-scholarship backups B.J. Grove and Jamaal Lucas into the game. He had his starters on the bench midway through the second half.

The Bearcats, unranked at the start of the season, became the sixth team in school history to win 28 games. The last team to get to the mark was the 1995-96 team that went 28-5.

When Cincinnati played at South Florida on Jan. 26, the Bearcats won by 10 as Logan scored a game-high 27 points. He didn't have to do as much this time around.

Forward Jamaal Davis scored nine points in the opening 19-4 run that set the tone. South Florida went only 2-of-7 from the field during that spurt and had six turnovers.

A 16-1 run that featured a pair of 3-pointers by Field Williams built the lead to 47-18 late in the half.

Altron Jackson, the conference's career scoring leader with 1,987 points, rarely got an open shot against the Bearcats' switching man-to-man defense.

He missed his first four shots as Cincinnati took control and finished with 21 points, 14 in the second half.