UCF Basketball

For those of you who did not watch the UCF vs. Florida game from the brand new Amway Center on Wednesday night, let me assure you, this was no flukey win. UCF punched the Gators in the mouth. They led most of the way and never did it feel like Florida was going to get control of this game.

Led by the new MJ, Michael's son Marcus Jordan, the Knights stood toe-to-toe with the heavily favored Gators from the outset. Gators seniors Alex Tyus and Chandler Parsons did nothing all night as the Knights defense shut them down.

Jordan and Keith Clanton led the way for UCF. Jordan finished with 18 points and Clanton scored 12 including huge free throws at the end of the game, something Florida seemed unable to do at any point in the game. UF was a paltry 10-of-18 from the free throw line and an abysmal two-of-13 from three point land.

UCF was able to hit five three pointers which was the difference in the ball game.

The Knights led most of the night, and at one time was up as much as nine points. But as Jordan got a break with the Knights up 44-36, the Gators came back to take a 46-44 lead. But as soon as MJ Jr. came in he promptly hit a Jordan-esque runner with his off hand to tie the game. The rest of the game no doubt made ol' No. 23 proud as his son made big play after big play.

UCF now has a 6-0 record and is 2-0 against BCS conference schools (USF and Florida). They have two more games left with schools that will look good on a resume in Miami and UMass before Conference USA starts.

UCF looks like a pretty good bet to enter conference play undefeated which will make their Jan 26th show down at Memphis a huge game. The Tigers will face the Knights in Orlando on Feb 9th.

A huge night to be a Knight in a huge week. The football team will be trying to win the conference championship on Saturday against SMU. If successful, many have the Knights playing against the Georgia Bulldogs on New Year's Eve in the Liberty Bowl.

A win over the Gators in basketball and a conference championship in football would indeed be the biggest week in UCF sports history. Hopefully the Big East Conference is watching this.

Marcus Jordan continued to improve in his freshman season Tuesday night, leading the University of Central Florida men's basketball team to a 68-65 win over Houston in Orlando.

This was UCF's second win over Houston this year, sweeping the season series. The Cougars held a slight lead over UCF in the conference standings heading into Tuesday's match-up.

Jordan, meanwhile, completed one of his most impressive efforts of the season. He led the Knights with 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Jordan recorded a season-high 23 points against Houston in the teams' first meeting a few weeks back.

The defense from Jordan down the stretch was key in securing the win for the Knights—especially in an important block he made with two minutes left to go. Meanwhile, Jordan provided a great mix of offensive skill, with drives to the basket and outside shooting that broke down Houston's defense.

Other impressive performances came from AJ Tyler, who scored 12 and grabbed eight rebounds, and AJ Rompza, who scored eight points and dished 10 assists. Freshman Keith Clanton continued to dominate the boards with 10 rebounds against the Cougars.

The Knights held a five-point lead with a minute left, but they let Houston hang around by missing free throws down the stretch. Houston had the chance to tie the game as time expired, but a Cougars three-pointer went wide as the buzzer went off.

The Knights improved their season record to 13-12, with a 5-6 mark in conference. They moved ahead of Houston in the standings with the win to seventh.

This was an important game for UCF in positioning and confidence heading into the final stretch of the regular season. The Knights will not be expected to take part in any postseason play after the trip to Tulsa for the conference tournament, but they could rally off a few games and cause some havoc for teams with higher expectations.

The resilience of the team must be saluted, mostly because they are such a young squad. They've dealt with controversy and some mediocre play—as well as some tough losses—but they have continued to fight back and win some impressive games.

Hopefully, the Knights will continue to improve their play and build some momentum for the end of the year. The youth and inexperience on the squad is starting to turn into poise and solid play as the season goes on.

Nights like tonight continue to build the expectations and fanfare surrounding the UCF basketball program. As this young squad continues to collect wins and the crowds stay respectable, hopefully the rest of Orlando will start to take notice.

UCF, winners of two in a row, will travel to Southern Miss this weekend, then come home for an important game against UAB next Wednesday night. Both teams sit ahead of the Knights in the standings and will be important for tournament positioning.

Coming off of two blowout losses, it's hard to keep faith in whichever team you root for.

But even though the UCF basketball team has dropped two straight embarrassing games, it's important to be a little patient throughout the rest of the season.

The Knights have had a very up and down year so far. They've played well against out-of-conference foes like UConn and Auburn, but have been embarrassed by conference opponents like SMU, UTEP, and Tulsa.

Expectations are hard to keep moderate around Orlando after the arrival of the top recruiting class in the program's history. However, it's important to remember that the Knights are not putting freshman like John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins out on the floor.

Winning with a cast of freshmen and sophomores is just not common in college basketball. Of course, sometimes a youth-ridden team is highly successful, but it's extremely difficult unless you are bringing in multiple five-star players like John Calipari has or like Thad Matta did with Greg Oden and Mike Conley.

Even with Calipari's one loss Kentucky squad, he has been feeling the effect of having a team led by underclassmen who have shown their youth throughout an impressive campaign.

Then you have a team like UCF, which must rely on a handful of underclassmen, but with a minor step down in talent, and is playing in a league that's been more competitive than any time in recent memory.

Kirk Speraw will likely define his career at UCF with the players he's recruited to campus the last two years. How he continues to develop them will probably decide whether he will coach at UCF for the rest of his career.

Speraw has brought in AJ Rompza, Isaac Sosa, Dave Diakite, Keith Clanton, and Marcus Jordan all within the last two years. Now that they are all halfway through their freshman and sophomore campaigns, Speraw will need to turn the names on paper into a winning formula sooner rather than later.

The blowout losses in the past few weeks have already started to shake some of the fan base with disapproval of Speraw, but hopefully Kirk and the team will be able to right the ship.

With one of the youngest teams in college basketball, Speraw is certainly facing a very new challenge with leading this squad. Right now, however, it's important that the fan base stand behind the team throughout their growing pains this season.

With a 10-10 record, the Knights will look to get a big win this Saturday at home against Tulsa, who is currently sitting in second in C-USA with a 16-4 record.

Maybe a big win and some confidence could provide just what the youthful UCF squad needs right now, and certainly a strong finish to this season could do wonders for next year's campaign.

A few short months ago, Marcus Jordan and the UCF basketball program had their fair share of coverage for the wrong reasons. Jordan's decision to wear his father's brand of shoes instead of the UCF provided Adidas brand caused them to overreact by pulling the entire school's endorsement deal.

All of this surely had to cause hard times for just a college freshman, whether the kid has grown up in a basketball loom or not. To add in, the rest of the men's basketball team at UCF is quite young themselves with a roster comprised mostly of freshmen and sophomores. So just how would Jordan and the rest of his team react?

Well, the team itself is showing its youth, starting out with nine wins and eight losses so far this season. There have been bright moments, however, beating an Auburn team in Daytona Beach and competing throughout their game against perennial power UConn on the road.

Aside from the team's accomplishments, Marcus Jordan's ability to shrug off constant attention and unneeded pressure has surely been impressive of late. He didn't start the season particularly well, struggling to score consistently throughout the first few games, but maintained his defensive toughness and tenacity.

As UCF started to reach the toughest stretch of their out-of-conference schedule, Jordan has seemed to quickly turn around people's opinions in the UCF community. As a basketball fan, knowing Jordan was recruited to UCF as a solid defender and great decision-maker, his offensive play throughout the past month has been a pleasant surprise.

Jordan's best games have even seemed to come in the most important times of the year so far. In three of UCF's toughest non-conference games, Jordan has posted double figures in scoring against the likes of UConn, Ole Miss, and USF.

Following a stretch of impressive non-conference games, Jordan recorded a season high 19 points this past week against Marshall on national television.

Though his scoring has increased, Jordan has been able to maintain his excellent defensive play as well. Surely, fans aren't the only ones starting to take notice of Jordan's improved play.

Knights head coach Kirk Speraw has adjusted his team's strategy accordingly, by inserting Jordan into the starting lineup for the past few games.

Jordan has seen a steady increase in playing time, averaging 25 to 30 minutes a game for about the past month or so. During this time he's been averaging around 10 points a game, while giving the Knights great intensity on the defensive front.

Jordan's recent success should be attributed to his ability to stave off the unnecessary expectations and controversy that surrounded him towards the beginning of the year. While he still has a long way to go and is just a freshman, you just get the feeling that Marcus Jordan is going to be an outstanding player for years to come at UCF, despite whatever shoes he is wearing.

This felt like a must-win game for the Knights going in.

It wasn’t going to be a big win, but it could have been a big loss.

In the end, the Knights would put together a complete game pulling away from the Rice Owls in their home conference opener, 77-58.

The Owls led 21-16 following a three-pointer by Trey Stanton with 7:30 left in the first half. The Knights would score the game’s next 17 points, while the Owls experienced a scoring drought lasting nearly seven minutes.

From there on, UCF cruised to victory. They were led by freshman Keith Clanton who had his best game of the season to date, scoring 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting, including 2-for-2 from three, and added six boards and three blocks.

A change in scenery for the Knights came when freshman Marcus Jordan was named to the starting lineup, replacing Isaac Sosa in that role. Jordan had just five points in 19 minutes of action. Sosa ended up with eight points in 25 minutes, including two three-pointers.

Clanton picked up his game after fellow freshman Dave Diakite went down with an apparent leg injury after just eight minutes of action.

Clanton got help from an especially efficient effort from the field by his teammates, leading to 53.6 percent shooting for the game.

The Knights held Rice to just 39.2 percent from the field for the game, while their leading scorer, freshman Tamir Jackson, shot just 6-of-16 from the field for 17 points.

A.J. Rompza turned in his second-straight double-digit scoring performance, tallying 13 points, six assists, and five steals while connecting on 3-of-7 three-point attempts.

Rompza led the team to a very solid three-point shooting day in which the team made 11-of-23 attempts.

The Knights looked as good as they have all season Saturday night. The key was getting the big performance out of Clanton inside. That opened up more opportunities for the guards to hit perimeter shots, and they came through.

The game served as a definite confidence booster, with the Knights coming off two losses to Jacksonville and Ole Miss. Rice is now a team in the conference that the Knights know they should beat.

UCF will play a tough schedule this coming week that should reveal where the team stands in Conference USA, as they host Marshall Jan. 13 and then travel to conference-favorite Tulsa on Jan. 16.

Read the full article here: The Sports Genius.

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The Knights got out to another slow start on the road against Ole Miss Tuesday night, falling behind 19-4 just four minutes into the game, after the Rebels made their first five three-point attempts.

Ole Miss continued to roll, beating the Knights by a final of 84-56.

UCF was coming off a devastating 61-51 loss to Jacksonville, in which the team shot just 33.3 percent from the field for the game. The Knights didn’t do much better against the Rebels, going 33.9 percent from the field and 0-for-11 from downtown.

Ole Miss countered with a hot shooting night from beyond the arc going 11-for-28 for the game. The Rebels also held a huge height advantage leading to 10 blocked shots for the team.

The Knights trailed by as many as 26 points at one point in the first half.

There were few, if any, bright spots for UCF in the game although freshman Marcus Jordan registered another solid performance against a quality opponent.

Jordan has played his best games this year against the toughest teams and had 13 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 4 steals in 29 minutes of action. Jordan was aggressive in getting to the line all game but made just half of his 10 free throw attempts.

A.J. Rompza also came out aggressive after a tough last game. He led the team with 16 points (12 in the first half) in the contest going 6-of-15 from the field for the game. He only had three assists, however, which was a testament to UCF’s shooting struggles as a team.

The Knights’ leading scorer, Isaac Sosa, didn’t have a field goal until there was seven minutes left in the game, finishing with only four points.

Orlando native Chris Warren countered Sosa’s first bucket with back-to-back threes as he scored 14 against his hometown team.

Keith Clanton and Dave Diakite, UCF’s best chance to counter Ole Miss’ size, both had tough nights.

Clanton was scoreless in the first half, but finished with eight points and seven rebounds, however, he also found the turnover bug again committing seven in the game.

Diakite again couldn’t stay on the floor much due to foul trouble and played just 16 minutes playing no impact in the game.

The Knights fall to 8-6 on the year with conference play looming right around the corner, in the form of a conference opener at home against Rice Jan. 9.

Read the full article and others like it here: The Sports Genius .

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The first thing the Knights need to do is forget about this game.

The UCF men’s basketball team lost 61-51 Wednesday night to Jacksonville in the championship game of its own holiday tournament. These teams weren’t scheduled to come to UCF and beat them.

Even though there are some obvious flaws with this team that were exposed in the game, the fact still remains that UCF played a bad game overall. Literally, not one player had a good game and just about all of them played worse than normal.

Jacksonville hit two backbreaking three-pointers in the final 2:17 to pull away from the Knights.

First, forward Lehmon Colbert stepped outside and drilled a trey to put the Dolphins ahead 52-50. Then with 1:19 left, Ben Smith hit his third three-pointer of the night to give Jacksonville a 55-50 lead.

In the final minute UCF did nothing to help its cause in the comeback.

Dave Diakite got fouled after an offensive rebound off his own missed three-pointer and missed both free throws. Sharpshooting guard Isaac Sosa then stepped to the line with the team down six and clanked the first free throw.

Freshman Keith Clanton put the icing on the cake with a nice spin move and finish that was negated by a bogus traveling call.

The Knights failed to hold a late lead after having come back from a 15-point deficit in the first half.

With 7:23 left in the game, Sosa made a three-pointer to tie the game at 42. Sosa then made a steal back down the court that led to a driving dish from Marcus Jordan to P.J. Gaynor for a dunk that gave UCF their first lead since 5-3.

While the Knights got out of the gates slowly, it still seemed like they would be able to come back and win. Jacksonville was shooting lights out, and the Knights weren’t getting their usual buckets to fall.

UCF had scoreless dry spells lasting 5:18 and 4:21 in the first half during a stretch where they scored just four points in nine minutes.

A.J. Tyler, who has been coming around offensively, having found a soft touch from mid-range, struggled all night connecting on just 2-of-11 shots. Clanton also had a tough time getting some easy buckets to go in and was blocked a surprising number of times in the second half.

When the outside shots weren’t falling and the Knights couldn’t get anything established in the post, they had nothing else to turn to. No one was able to create a shot off the dribble for himself or a teammate.

Only Jordan was given the opportunity down the stretch with a high pick-and-roll look but he reacted the same way every time, and it only led to one basket.

Point guard A.J. Rompza could best be described as pointless for this game. He can’t hit outside shots. He can’t penetrate against decent perimeter defense, and he’s too short to matter at all on defense unless he gets steals.

As a team, UCF finished shooting just 33.3 percent from the field for the game. Jacksonville also struggled somewhat, but the difference came in the form of the long ball, where the Dolphins held a 9-2 advantage in makes over the Knights.

This holiday tournament was supposed to serve as a nice tune-up before conference play began. The Knights were just coming off two straight losses to Big East opponents South Florida and Connecticut, and needed to get on track again.

Go ahead and add Jacksonville to the loss column now. That looks terrible. Sure, UCF is a young team, and it can expect some hiccups along the way, but a loss to the Atlantic Sun’s finest is unacceptable.

UCF is now 8-5 overall and will play at Ole Miss in their next game Jan. 5.

Read the full article here: The Sports Genius

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The UCF men’s basketball team lost their third game of the season Wednesday night, on the road to cross-state rival USF 69-65. The loss dropped UCF to 7-3 on the year.

While they were in the game throughout its entirety, they simply couldn’t get over the hump and make a run big enough to come back. The problem right now is that they can’t get into a good rhythm and put together a complete game.

The season is still young and the team is young too, but it is time for head coach Kirk Speraw to tighten his rotation, especially when the Knights are playing teams from the Big East like USF and Connecticut, who they will play next.

Right now, UCF has eight players averaging at least 18 minutes a game, which is no big deal except for the fact that some players have separated from the pack and should be carrying larger loads of playing time.

I’ve broken down the Knights’ roster into three categories:

1. Players who can play and maybe start for BCS conference teams.

2. Players who are just a level below but can sometimes play up to the level of BCS conferences.

3. Players who are perfect for Conference-USA play and are fine in limited minutes against the better teams.

The Knights have two studs (BCS conference quality players) on their roster right now in freshmen Keith Clanton and Dave Diakite. They need to each be playing at least 30 minutes against the best teams, even if they struggle a little because they are freshmen. They just simply give the Knights the best chance to win and compete at the highest level, especially physically, which is where the Knights often fall short against the better teams.

Clanton has come around and established himself as a rare and top talent for this UCF team. Although he turns the ball over quite a bit for a big man, he is UCF’s best low-post scorer and defender, second best rebounder, and a smart player. He is still trying to find the best way to fit in with his teammates and is just about there. He is ready to play in big games and getting just 19 minutes in the USF game, even though he was struggling a lot (four turnovers, but have four steals), is not going to give the Knights their best chance to win.

Diakite is the best athlete the Knights have probably ever had, and when he is not in foul trouble, there is absolutely no reason for him to be on the bench. He is the team’s best rebounder despite being just 6'6" and more importantly, he is a terror on the offensive glass.

He has struggled of late mainly because of foul trouble, but saw just 22 minutes against USF despite not being in foul trouble until the very end of the game. The Knights gave up 12 offensive rebounds to the Bulls. For an explanation, look no further than Diakite’s absence from the game.

The second level players for the Knights are A.J. Rompza, A.J. Tyler, Isaac Sosa, and Marcus Jordan. These guys can all play big minutes, but there are reasons why they shouldn’t against certain matchups.

Rompza is on the brink of a level one player but is too small and not quick enough to control a game consistently, but makes up for it a lot of times with his hustle and heart. He too, needs to be in the game for 30-plus minutes against the best teams, with Taylor Young acting as a perfect spell for him to get rest. The offense just runs differently with him on the court as opposed to when he’s on the bench.

Tyler is not enough of a banger for UCF to rely on him to get rebounds if he doesn’t have Clanton or Diakite playing beside him. He is solid defensively, developing offensively, and most importantly, gives UCF an outside threat from the center position. He needs to play a lot too. Tyler just can’t be expected to control the paint by himself, which means the Knights can’t go small with him in the game.

Sosa is great for spreading the floor and knocking down three-pointers but is still too much of a defensive liability to play major minutes. USF dominated the Knights in this department with Dominique Jones, a big physical junior guard, who scored 27 points. If Speraw can find a way to hide him on defense, then he should be in the game as much as possible. Otherwise, the Knights can’t afford to sacrifice perimeter defense, despite the offense he brings.

Jordan has just gotten to the second level in the past three or four games. He had 11 points in the loss to USF as he handled the ball late in the game in half court situations, much like former UCF player Dave Noel. His biggest problem right now is passing in transition and turning the ball over a little too much. Other than that, he has become one of UCF’s best perimeter defenders because of his strength and is a reliable scorer and shooter from three.

Taylor Young, P.J. Gaynor, and Jakub Kusmieruk are the third level of players for the Knights. I don’t mind them playing a lot if a level two player is struggling, but otherwise, they should only be seeing the floor for 10 minutes or less.

Young looked for a second last year like he might become a starter this season alongside Rompza, but he isn’t quite there yet. He’s a nice backup point guard to have and if he shot more I’d have no problem with him playing as much as he is right now. He was a huge problem on defense against USF and just hacked the ball handlers like crazy. And Rompza is just simply better at making plays right now, so there is no need for them to split time when Rompza has the endurance to play major minutes.

Gaynor is finally not starting, with Clanton being inserted into the starting lineup in UCF’s last game against Bethune-Cookman. Gaynor is a nice change of pace as an energy guy off the bench for the Knights, but can’t be expected to play more than 10-12 minutes effectively. He does a decent job getting rebounds, but when he is in with Tyler as the four and five men, they simply do not get enough boards for the Knights to stay with the better teams on their schedule.

And then there is big Kuba. He really has no business ever playing more than five minutes a game right now and should only be used if the Knights really want to change the pace and go to a 2-3 zone or if they are playing against a tiny team. He does just about nothing offensively and despite being 7'4", he cannot hold on to a rebound to save his life. If the Knights are losing and need to come back, he can’t be in the game.

The Knights have No. 14 Connecticut next and are then hosting a Holiday tournament against teams they should beat, before playing at Ole Miss. Wins against Connecticut or Ole Miss are looking unlikely right now, but would be huge to help turn this team in the right direction before conference play starts.

The Knights aren’t going to have a chance in those games if they limit the minutes of their best players and shuffle their lineup as much as they have been to start the season.

Read the full article here: The Sports Genius .

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The Knights continue to win the games they should, they’re just not doing it in as impressive fashion as some would like them to.

UCF beat Bethune Cookman 63-50 Saturday night thanks to some late clutch play by freshman Keith Clanton.

The highest rated recruit to ever come to UCF finally got his first start of the season after a solid performance in UCF’s last game against Notre Dame where he led the team with 14 points and seven rebounds while matched up with one of the best forwards in the country in Luke Harangody (29 points and seven rebounds in that game).

Down the stretch against Bethune Cookman, Clanton came up huge with a driving layup off an isolation look and then followed that up with two big defensive stops, a block with 1:11 left and a steal with 55 seconds to play, to help UCF get the close win.

But the Knights shouldn’t have needed those big plays from Clanton. They should have killed an overmatched Bethune Cookman team. This isn’t the first time that UCF has played down to an opponent.

The last two wins for the Knights came against Albany (76-72) and Newberry (80-62). While a win is still a win, Knights fans shouldn’t get too comfortable just yet with a 7-2 start.

The bright side is that while UCF may play down to opponents at times, they can also play above their usual play other times.

The Knights rose to the occasions to beat both Massachusetts (84-67) and Auburn (84-74) handily earlier in the season and then battled with Notre Dame to a 41-41 tie in the first half before falling 90-72 to the Irish.

So in a sense, UCF has been a little tough to predict this season. They’ve had games where they have executed their offense at a high level and shot for a high percentage and then games where it’s hard to tell where and how they’re going to score the ball.

The move to start Clanton was one that was long overdue and should get the Knights off to more consistent starts. It also gives UCF a chance to bring a player like P.J. Gaynor off the bench, which is a perfect fit for his style of play (high energy and hustle plays).

While Clanton is starting to emerge as UCF’s best player, his progression this season hasn’t been without a few stumbling blocks while he has searched for the best possible way to fit in with his teammates.

He has been somewhat of a turnover machine leading the team with 30 (3.3 per game) on the season. That’s typical of a freshman no matter how good one is and is something that Clanton will surely cut down upon as the season continues.

Clanton is starting to find a rhythm on offense and starting to see how he can get his looks. Head Coach Kirk Speraw has used him very effectively in isolated positions at the high post, as well as giving him the freedom to bring the ball up court in transition on other occasions.

But where Clanton continues to impress is on the defensive end of the floor. Clanton had five blocks in the Bethune Cookman game and leads the team in that department with 18 (2.0 per game) on the season. He is also the team’s leading defensive rebounder on the season.

With Clanton now in the starting lineup it will give UCF chance to play their best two rebounders (Diakite’s the other) with center A.J. Tyler who doesn’t do too good of a job getting boards.

This also frees Tyler to venture away from the basket on offense where he has developed a deadly mid-range game and has been efficient crashing the offensive glass for rebounds.

With Clanton and Tyler emerging, Dave Diakite and Isaac Sosa have taken a kind of back seat with both in minor slumps. Once everyone starts to come around together for this young team, there’s no telling how far they can make a run in Conference-USA.

The Knights have been up and down to start their 7-2 season, but if you look closely things are definitely starting to fall into place just in time for a tough stretch of the season to end non-conference play.

UCF will play next at rival South Florida on Dec. 16 then they will travel to play at Connecticut on Dec. 20.

Read the full article at The Sports Genius .

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