Through much of UCF’s season, it has been a small stretch of play that has proven the difference against the top opponents in the American Athletic Conference. The offense has just been too inconsistent at critical moments and the defense unable to break.
It happened against Tulsa, against Connecticut, against SMU, against Memphis. The Knights would find themselves down by too much and unable to make up ground.
Not even Adonys Henriquez’s return could fix that problem. UCF remained perpetually behind. The consistency on offense is just not there for a UCF team desperately in need of it.
And the team seemingly has no one it can rely on.
The Knights scored just 15 points in the first half and shot worse than 40 percent for the game, falling behind yet again. And despite cutting the lead down to nine points in the second half, could get no closer or seriously threaten the Tigers in a 73-56 loss at FedExForum on Wednesday.
“Our effort still was not good enough in the first half, especially from some of our veterans,” coach Donnie Jones told Marc Daniels on UCF’s radio broadcast after the game. “We’re depending on those guys to step up and play for us. We didn’t get it. At halftime, I just really thought about playing guys who would play with energy and heart.”
Those bleak words came in response to a half where the Knights shot 6 for 27 from the floor and missed all nine of their 3-point loos. To shoot about 22 percent from the floor are recipe for no chance.
The second half did not see a much better shooting percentage, but at least the team defended and competed a bit more to close the gap some.
The impetus for change in the second half came from little-used freshman forward Chad Brown. Brown started the second half as a reward for his energy. He played 12 minutes, failing to score and grabbing four rebounds before fouling out.
The message was somewhat received as the Knights were better in the second half. They competed and had to work too hard to cut it down.
Especially against a team like Memphis.
The Tigers got a big effort from Shaq Goodwin in the game at CFE Arena in January. The Knights were able to control him better than they did that knight, but Goodwin still had a double double of 12 points and 10 rebounds. Dedric Lawson had 13 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Tigers.
That front line proved to be a lot for UCF to handle once again.
Matt Williams again led UCF in scoring with 12 points, but made just 3 of his 14 shots, including 2 of his 11 3-pointers. That is a recipe for disaster for a Knights team that needs outside shooting to succeed and give their post players space.
The big men did a better job standing up to the Lawson-Goodwin front line. Tacko Fall had seven points, nine rebounds and four blocks.
Henriquez in his first game back from an injury scored six points on 3-for-6 shooting.
The Knights continued to struggle to find offensive consistency as Chance McSpadden was the only player outside of Williams to score in double figures.
“It’s been a challenge because you are looking for your veterans to be the consistent guys every night and we’re not getting that,” Jones said. “We’ve got to keep building for the future. I think now I am going to play these young guys. These guys compete hard and they try to play the right way. Experience is the only thing that’s hard for them. I know they care and they want to win and want to do a good job. We just have to keep improving and finding different ways to score.”
The offense was better when it could play with pace and get out in transition. But those opportunities were few.
Trashon Burrell controlled the pace with 13 points and six assists off the bench. The Knights never really had a chance, even when they trailed by nine points. The hole was too deep.
Again.
