UCF approached Saturday’s showdown with South Florida in need of a win. A tough loss at Tulane had dropped the Knights to 4-2 in conference play earlier in the week. And with a rematch against mighty Houston looming, Johnny Dawkins’s squad needed to muster a road win over the weekend against a floundering South Florida team.
Unfortunately, the Bulls had other plans.
From the opening tip-off, it just didn’t feel like the Knights’ day. While neither team exactly came out firing, it took UCF almost three minutes to score –– finally getting on the board with (what else?) a Taylor Hendricks three-pointer. From there, it was another two-and-a-half minutes before the Knights scored again, and four minutes before they notched another field goal. Fortunately for UCF, South Florida was almost as cold to start the game. But by the end of an opening stretch in which the Knights had an opportunity to develop a cushion, they wound up down 6-8 at the 12:59 mark.
From that point forward, the pace quickened and the scoring heated up on both sides. While UCF’s leading scorers, Hendricks and CJ Kelly, both produced in this stretch, however, it was Bulls guard Tyler Harris who stole the show. Not for nothing, the undersized transfer from Memphis is putting together an outstanding season; he leads South Florida in scoring, and even notched 31 points against the fearsome Houston backcourt back on January 11th. Undoubtedly, Coach Dawkins and Co. schemed to contain Harris, but –– seemingly inevitably –– he caught fire starting right before the 12-minute TV timeout. Harris hit three consecutive three-pointers in less than three minutes’ time, ultimately helping South Florida to a 38-33 halftime lead (which frankly could have been larger).
One wonders if UCF would have taken this halftime scenario if offered. They’d scored only six points in the game’s first seven minutes, Tyler Harris had gone off, and the deficit, on the road, was still only five points. The Knights have been a good enough team of late to be able to overcome that margin with a steadier second half.
In this case though, the pressure of a road deficit (and hostile environment) got the better of the Knights. There was nothing particularly unusual about the second half, nor did South Florida do anything spectacular. Rather, the Bulls just maintained level heads, moved the ball efficiently, and found themselves getting to both the basket and the free-throw line throughout the half. Harris sustained his hot hand, hitting a few more jumpers (including two from long range) and enjoying a perfect, 13-for-13 day at the line. But it was the Bulls’ unselfish play (18 assists on the day) and a barrage of layups that helped them to widen the gap.
In the end, despite an 18-point effort from CJ Kelly and a strong second half from Ithiel Horton, the Knights simply couldn’t keep up. They lost by a final score of 85-72, dropping to 4-3 in conference play ahead of their rematch with Houston.
For UCF fans in search of a positive to take from this game, it’s worth noting that South Florida was, in some respects, due. Despite its lowly conference record, the team has been nipping at the heels of superior opponents. The Bulls lost to Memphis by seven, Temple and Wichita State by four each, and even came within six points of Houston. This is to say, the Bulls are not necessarily as poor as their record might suggest.
Nevertheless, there were some problematic signs for UCF in this game. For one thing, the Knights were badly outrebounded, courtesy (for the most part) of South Florida 7-footer Russel Tchewa. More significantly however, the Knights had trouble containing the perimeter and guarding cuts, ultimately leading to the aforementioned second-half layup barrage. This is a problem that needs to be solved quickly if UCF is to fare better when Houston’s Marcus Sasser, Jamal Shead, and Tramon Mark come to town this week.
It’s a tough stretch in the schedule, but at this point the Knights need to look at the Houston rematch as an opportunity to right the ship. As the Cougars’ recent loss to Temple shows us, anything can happen in conference play –– and UCF is a better team than it showed at South Florida over the weekend.
