With last Thursday’s loss at Temple, UCF’s hopes of a .500 finish in conference play were dashed. The Knights put up a fight in Philadelphia, but wound up in a heartbreaker as Temple’s Nick Jourdain won the game on a last-second drive. With the .500 finish out of the question though, UCF still had conference tournament positioning to play for in its final outing against East Carolina. And on Sunday, the Knights turned that outing into a positive step.
ECU entered the contest playing some of its better basketball of the season. That may not be saying a whole lot in a down year for the Pirates, but a recent split with Tulane showed that ECU could be tricky on a given night. One could have imagined a version of this game in which UCF came in discouraged after the Temple loss and ECU –– which nearly beat the Knights in North Carolina earlier this season –– capitalized with a road statement. As it turned out however, Johnny Dawkins’s squad hit the floor on Sunday ready to take care of business.
The Knights sprinted out to a quick start, thanks in large part to outstanding play by lead guard Ithiel Horton. Beginning with an early three that opened the scoring in the game, Horton worked his way to nine points and three assists in the first eight minutes of play. As a result, the Knights established a commanding 24-10 lead by the second TV timeout. Things might have gotten out of hand from there, but a bit of sharpshooting from Quentin Diboundje and Jaden Walker kept the Pirates from getting blown off the court. At the half, UCF led 40-25.
As has been typical of a lot of UCF’s games this conference season, the pace picked up in the second half. A pair of buckets from Walker and RJ Felton helped the Pirates claw to within 11, and put a little bit of pressure on the Knights early in the half. CJ Kelly and (who else?) Taylor Hendricks answered with a quick flurry that ballooned the margin to 20, however, and from there the game loosened up considerably.
ECU was able to establish itself inside somewhat, with freshman big Ezra Ausar (who’s going to be a problem for AAC rivals in years to come) turning in a big half. A well-rounded attack from UCF’s typical cast of contributors was too much for the Pirates to withstand, however, and there was little drama during the home stretch. The home crowd did get a bit of a thrill, however, when bench guard Poohpha Warakulnukroh –– a sophomore from Bangkok, Thailand –– entered the game and knocked down a three (and a free throw shortly thereafter). A couple free throws from Lahat Thioune closed out the scoring, with UCF up 84-58 at the final buzzer.
With the win, UCF finished its regular season at 17-13 overall, with an 8-10 record in conference play. That’s good for the 7th seed in the AAC Tournament, and will see the Knights matched up with 10-seed SMU in an opening round game on Thursday. UCF won the only meeting between the two teams this season by a decisive score of 85-53, back on January 8. A win would see UCF into the final eight, and a rematch with 2-seed Memphis. Notably, the Knights and Tigers played two of the most thrilling games in the AAC this season.
For the Knights, however, the only thing that matters now is showing up against SMU.
