UCF looks to rebound against UConn
After a blowout road loss at Memphis, UCF will look to get back on track Thursday when they host UConn. Tip-off from CFE Arena is scheduled a bit later than usual, 9 p.m., with television coverage from ESPNU.
Lack of offense was a primary culprit in Sunday's 77-57 setback against the Tigers. Offensively, UCF played perhaps their worst game with a 37.9 overall shooting percentage. B.J. Taylor was the only player to score in double figures (10 points) on 3-of-11 shooting. Aubrey Dawkins, who was averaging more than 15 points per game, scored just two points on 1-of-10 from the field.
Defensively, UCF continued to get outhustled on the rebounding end with Memphis holding 46-28 advantage in that department.
During Wednesday's media availability, players spoke about a lack of intensity on their end, something they admit can't happen again.
"The biggest thing is effort and energy," Chad Brown said. "We have to build on that and keep getting better in those aspects of the game. That all comes with heart and passion. That's something we worked on all this week. I feel like we got better in practice these last couple days. We've just got to fight. Teams are going to give you their best. As a competitor, you look for that. We have to set the tone and it starts in the beginning of the game. We have to set that tone early. If we do that for 40 minutes, the results will show."
Added Tacko Fall:
"That was a bad loss we took. It really hit us hard. You never want to have that feeling again, from the coaches, players, managers, all of us. It was bad a loss. We didn't like how we played."
Head coach Johnny Dawkins was short and succinct in describing the deficiencies from that game.
"We need to play better," Dawkins said. "We need to play with more intensity. We need to defend better. We need to rebound better."
Even so, UCF still is in a great spot with a 15-4 overall record and 5-2 mark in the American Athletic Conference.
"It's a long season," Dawkins said. "We still have a third of the season to play. There's a lot of basketball left. We need to approach it understanding we need to go one game at a time. Our next opponent is UConn and all we're thinking about is the preparation for them. We can't do anything about what happened in the past. We can learn from it and hopefully improve in the areas we need to improve on. Then we move forward together."
UCF and UConn met in Hartford a few weeks back with the Knights on the winning end of a 65-53 decision. Aubrey Dawkins scored 23 points in that game.
The Huskies (12-8, 3-4 AAC) are guard-driven, led by Jalen Adams (18.2 ppg), Christian Vital (13.7) and Alterique Gilbert (13.0 ppg).
"I think they have three of the best guards in the nation," Dawkins said. "I think all of those guards are weapons on the basketball floor. Jalen Adams can pretty much do it all. Vital is a really, really good shooter. Alterique Gilbert is one of the quickest and shiftiest guards I've seen this season."
B.J. Taylor is focused on the day to day, but he isn't losing sight of the big picture. Games like this one upcoming will be crucial if UCF wants to meet their goal of reaching the NCAA Tournament.
"It's gonna be February after the game tomorrow," Taylor said. "It's the final stretch. Last month of conference play for me, Tacko (Fall), Chad (Brown) and Dayon (Griffin). We've got to go out there and leave it all out on the line. There's really no tomorrow. This will be my last time playing UConn at home... This is the most exciting and fun part of the season. It's the most important part before you reach postseason. A lot of crazy things can happen. Everything we want is on the table, everything we want to achieve, so we've got to come out with the right mindset and go take it."
UCF will also show off new alternate jerseys against UConn, a new anthracite ensemble with "Knights" emblazoned across the chest instead of the customary stacked logo.
