UCF vs Memphis Tigers: Post-game Review

Matt’s views:

I think we can all agree that this game was a heartbreaker. To begin the game, the Knights started by standing almost toe to toe with a bigger, more athletic Memphis team. I was very disappointed with Jermaine Taylor’s defense to start the game, as he constantly lost his man and allowed the Tigers to take open 3’s. There were at least three possessions in a row where JT was caught behind a pick and failed to give enough effort to get through it and back to his man in time to get any kind of defense on. Later in the first half and early in the second half, Kirk switched our defense to a 3-2 zone. This was a brilliant move in my opinion. It shut down the quick movements around the perimeter and helped us conserve our energy by not having our players follow their man everywhere they went. The Memphis inside game, specifically Dozier, was struggling to handle Tony Davis, Zondervan, and AJ Tyler, and so the emphasis went to help the outside defense.

Tony Davis kept us in this game. He is continuing to grow right before our eyes this season. He has been going up strong and either making his layups or drawing the foul just about every time. I’m extremely excited to see him add even more bulk during the offseason and get even stronger going to the hoop. He also surprised me, making some nice moves towards the hoop dribbling between his legs before driving towards the hoop.

Isaac Sosa was clearly hesitant to take his shots, and understandably so. He’s going to have to quicken his release off a pass, but that will come with time and practice. After his 3 pointer was blocked, he seemed to shut it down a bit. He’s also going to have to learn to defend the ball a little better while dribbling, or teams are going to take advantage of that any time he’s got the ball in the back court. That’s just one other thing that should come with time.

As expected, in the second half Memphis took advantage of AJ Rompza’s height and put whoever Rompza was defending inside in the post. Rompza tried his hardest as he always does, but when he’s almost a foot shorter than his opponent, it’s pretty much impossible to compete down low. He was great in outside, open court defense as always, and he was just as quick as ever. He did the one thing that he needed to avoid this game: make bad passes. There weren’t many of them, but he gave up enough turnovers to give them the lead later in the game. The kid is a gamer and his vision is very good to begin with, but it will become stellar. I loved his energy, as well as Taylor Young’s. I always imagined Taylor as a player more quiet than others, but when he came off the bench and gave the crowd the sign to “get the hell on your feet!”, it pumped up everyone. I’m beginning to love Taylor’s play. He’s not a huge playmaker, but he’s got very solid passing and ball handling, and that’s what we need at the point guard position.

Another NBA Scout: Also, another NBA scout sat near us during this game. He was from the Knicks, and he sat close enough to read his name and see the NBA logo on his socks, but far enough where we couldn't get a good look at his notes. His name is Steve Yoder. I'm not sure if he was there to see Jermaine or if he was there to see the Memphis boys.

Overall, one of the best basketball games I’ve ever been to, only second to the triple overtime game against Tulsa last year. Great game by the players and fans, both groups played their hearts out.

Vin’s post-game comments:

I could point out reasons we lost, put blame on certain players, at certain times; but I won’t. I can’t bring myself to write about negatives, not after how incredible UCF played.

1. Tony Davis. Incredible. He has taken some time to develop, but man oh man has he arrived. I said, before the game, Tony would need to play the game of his life. Well, not only did he play the game of his life, but he went against one of the best Forwards in the game (Robert Dozier) and out played him.

2. Jermaine Taylor, thank you. JT could have folded under the pressure of Memphis, like many players have before him. He could have given up. No, Jermaine Taylor saw Memphis and refused to back down. He led the Knights with 24 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 steals.

3. Ok, I said I wasn’t going to write about negatives, but I have to mention Isaac Sosa’s play. I’m very high on this kid, he will be very good, but his lack of confidence is going to hurt UCF in conference play if he can’t find a way to improve on that.

4. The Crowd. All 9800+ of you. Thank you, thank you, and thank you. That atmosphere may have been the best I’ve ever experienced. The sea of black, the hypno-signs, the RECRUITS. All such an amazing experience. Considering the lack of local marketing, a max capacity crowd was not what I was expecting. Let’s repeat this atmosphere again on the 21^st.

5. Lacrosse team, this will be the last time I mention you in this blog. What you did during the national anthem was embarrassing to the UCF family, and disrespectful to your own selves. Be ashamed.

6. On a sad note: It appears Drew Speraw is done with basketball here at UCF. He wants to focus more on his academics. Drew, we wish you the best of luck, and hope you stay with UCF long after you earn your degree. Thanks for that 3 against USF, what a terrific memory to leave behind.

Overall, UCF’s first half performance was one of the greatest halves I’ve ever seen a team play. I remember all the “Re-sign Kirk” chants, and signs that consumed the old arena towards the end of the 2006-2007 season. I was so proud that Keith recognized Kirks talent and importance to our school. This game may have been Kirks best coaching effort yet! Every single player, you could tell, gave it their all.

If you aren’t proud to be a Knight after last night, you might need to get your head checked.

[Reminder] The Knights next two games are on the road at UAB(1/13 @ 8pm) and RICE( 1/17 @ 4pm). The next home game isn't until January 21st @ 7pm, make sure to be there, with friends!