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UCF basketball holds off USF rally, defeats rival Bulls
- Updated: January 6, 2016
In the past three years, UCF guard Matt Williams played through pain for so long that it felt a little strange for him to celebrate a 75-64 rivalry win against USF free from any ailments.
“There’s no pain right now, it’s just moreso that I’m used to playing with my knee hurting or just different little things you know so now it’s like there’s nothing hurting,” said Williams, who scored 13 points, including four first-half 3-pointers during his second consecutive start. “I’m just running around and just playing free.”
Williams and sophomore guard Adonys Henriquez converted eight of the team’s season-tying high nine 3-pointers made to help the Knights fend off a scrappy Bulls team. Henriquez led all scorers with 20 points and six rebounds.
While the duo’s hot hands helped keep UCF (8-5 overall, 2-0 AAC) ahead for the entire game, it was the the Knights’ performance from the free-throw line combined with the aggressive play of A.J. Davis that helped shut the door on any USF (3-13 overall, 0-3 AAC) comeback in the final two minutes.
Davis finished the night with 16 points, five assists, five rebounds and went a perfect 10-of-10 from the free throw line.
The Knights made five of six free-throw attempts in the final two minutes and converted 20 of 25 attempts during the game played before an announced attendance of 3,603 fans at CFE Arena.
UCF improved its series record against USF to 8-22 and avenged a 72-55 loss from last March.
USF entered the game extremely short-handed, with five of its players unable to compete. Two of the team’s biggest scoring threats, Troy Holston Jr. and Roddy Peters, are out nursing injuries. And three players are ineligible, including 6-foot-10 center Isaiah Manderson, who recently transferred to USF from Texas Tech.
A losing record and limited bodies didn’t mean much as the Bulls continued to nip at the Knights’ heels after cutting a double figure lead on a 16-4 run to end the first half.
USF got a nice lift from Jaleel Cousins, the younger brother of NBA forward DeMarcus Cousins, who scored 19 points and 13 rebounds.
After defeating rival USF, the Knights face a much more daunting challenge. UCF will play at No. 15 SMU at 4 p.m. Saturday, and the game will air on ESPNU.
It will be the biggest defensive challenge for UCF point guards Daiquan Walker and Chance McSpadden, who will be tasked with slowing down senior guard Nic Moore, the 2014-15 AAC player of the year. Moore helped Team USA to a gold medal at the World University Games last July in South Korea under the direction of Kansas coach Bill Self.
The Mustangs aren’t eligible to complete in the American Athletic Conference Tournament or NCAA Tournament due to NCAA sanctions, leaving winning the league’s regular season title as talented SMU lineup’s sole goal.
“It makes it hard,” Henriquez said of SMU’s sanctions. “They’re going to come out and play as hard as they can and that makes it hard for us to know that so we just gotta play harder and just try to execute.”
Light crowd
The relatively small crowd of 3,603 fans attending the Knights’ biggest rivalry game was due in large part to the fact UCF students are still on a holiday break.
Even new athletics director Danny White admitted the timing wasn’t ideal.
It’s part of a unique early American Athletic Conference schedule for the Knights. UCF will play USF again in Tampa on Jan. 20 and play East Carolina for the second time this month on Jan. 16. The Knights recently defeated the Pirates 71-68 for their first conference win Jan. 2. UCF also will play Tulane twice in January.
“I’ll have that conversation with Mr. [Mike] Aresco, but I don’t know the reason behind it or if those conversations happen,” White told the Sentinel before the game when asked about the Knights’ league schedule. “Obviously, any time you get a chance to play our rival with our students here, we want to do that. But there are realities, a lot of moving parts when you’re building a conference schedule, so I get that but if those conversations didn’t occur, they need to.”
