Houston @ UCF: Post-game Review (L 97-69)

Matt's Thoughts:

This was the ugliest basketball game I've ever witnessed. I'm not sure how we scored 69 points. There really isn't one person to blame for this loss with how badly everyone played. Tony Davis somehow ended up with 20 points and 13 rebounds, 10 of them offensively. Tony seemingly had most of his points on tips off of missed shots. He crashed the boards boards very well and came up with some good blocks.

The turnovers tonight were unbearable to watch. Our starters had a combine 13 turnovers, with 5 more coming from the bench players. Taylor Young checked out with 3 very unusual turnovers tonight. He struggled mightily with passing, and seemed to try to force things far too often. Tonight's performance will definitely hurt his #1 ranking in the assist/turnover ratio.

We all had a scary moment when AJ Rompza collapsed in pain after rolling his ankle early in the second half. The normally energized Rompza slammed his fist on the floor repeatedly, writhing in pain before being carried to the bench. Thankfully AJ came back later in the game with a taped ankle, but was clearly hampered by his injury. He limped on and off the court for the rest of the game, and was slowed a step on defense.

The Knights went under at the beginning of the game and couldn't come back up for air.

About Joe Burnett: I have to say, I love this guy. He was incredibly humble and personable during his autograph signing session and followed it up with a great farewell speech. The best part of this game was Joe's 3 pointer to end halftime. Way to go out on top Joe, we'll always love you.

Marshall @ UCF: Post-game Review

I know it’s been a day, but better late than never. To begin, I love our depth at the 4 and 5 spots lately. AJ Tyler had an absolute breakout game, scoring 15 and picking up his game after Z got in early foul trouble. Tony Davis played well again, scoring 12. Isaac Sosa was perfect in shooting on the game, ringing up 10 points. I loved the confidence he displayed on his second three pointer, he caught the ball and immediately knew he had enough room to jump and fire. Very impressive.

Taylor Young ended up with his first turnover in conference play after making a bad alley-oop pass to Jermaine Taylor. Young has been playing great in the past couple of games, but his lack of confidence in his own shooting may be hurting us. There were multiple instances during this game where Taylor was absolutely wide open and decided to try and dish the ball instead of shooting a wide open jumper. He seems to shoot only when the play clock is below 5 and when he is forced into it. So far this year he seems to be a decent shooter, he just needs to get a little more confident. Otherwise Taylor had another spectacular game.

Jakub “The Polish Hammer” Kusmieruk even got some playing time this game, and didn’t do all that bad. He was fed inside a couple of times and managed to hit an open layup (though I’m disappointed he didn’t dunk it, that would have been awesome.)

One more thing I love about AJ Tyler is his versatility. He has the ability to move outside the arc and hit 3’s with very solid consistency for a 6’9” forward. I have a feeling he was recruited to play small forward at Clemson, but has made a great transition to power forward for us.

Vin's thoughts:

Don’t you love it when Marshall comes to town? The school that just lets us beat them, and beat them. Yet another big conference win, actually the third in a row. UCF is firing on all cylinders, and the excitement keeps building. The game was fairly close until Jermaine Taylor found his shot, and helped the Knights go on an 11-2 run in the last few minutes of the first half, springing UCF to a 50-41 halftime lead. The Knights never trailed again.

Some thoughts about the game:

1. Jermaine Taylor, your ICON status is building. He earned his 3^rd CUSA Player of the week award this season, 5^th in his career. He put up 58 points in the Knights two matchups, and pulled himself closer to UCF immortality.

2. The team shot an incredible 73.3 percent from beyond the arc. Second best percentage in UCF history. Better than that, UCF shot 90.9 percent from the Free Throw line. Gotta love it.

3. Even better than that, four Knights had double digit points, two Knights had 7 boards, and 2 had 7 assists.

4. Drew’s back! Played a couple minutes in mop-up duty, hit a 3 and had a steal. Glad to have him back in uniform. After the game Drew came running into the student section reminding as many as he could that we have a game Wednesday night. Great stuff from a great kid.

5. PJ Gaynor and Will Weathers were not dressed; I got to believe it was grades related. Hopefully they get their acts together soon.

6. KUBA! He’s not ready, everyone knows this, but his one FG may have gotten the crowd more energized than Jermaine big dunk. Feed the Hammer!

7. Matt and I view Taylor Young’s play a little bit different, I suppose. I don’t think he lacks as much confidence as people are claiming, and thought he had some big assists. His shot will come, I’d rather him dish it out than force an ugly one.

Some other thoughts:

1. Coach Rooney, I’ll take another glass of the Kool-aide, please. Can this guy get you excited, or what? I think Matt wanted to hit the batting cages after he was through talking. I love the enthusiasm, and talking to the players after the game, it seems they do too.

2. Students, please spread the word about the Wednesday night game. The team feeds off of the Knightmares’ energy. UCF boasts one of the best home records in the nation, over 80% win percentage since the Arena opened. Just because UCF isn’t giving anything away doesn’t mean you shouldn’t show up. And really, UCF gives you free tickets to one of the most exciting events in Central Florida, LETS GO PEOPLE.

3. I’m taking this one from Mr. Hoops McKnight*: Knightmoves, can we get some better looking pants?

4. Where in the world is Knightro? Back to back absences. What happened?

Scouting news: We spotted another NBA scout yesterday. His papers showed he was from the Atlanta Hawks, though we couldn't catch his name. I can only assume he was there to watch Jermaine.