Justin McBride had been through the paint East Carolina inflicted on UCF in the past. The 81-80 overtime loss at last year’s American Conference tournament was still fresh for those that returned from last year’s team.
When East Carolina jumped out to a double-digit lead in the first meeting, there was a focus to get back into the game and steal the road win. The Knights were going to get that win.
With UCF coming off a game where it lost its focus against SMU in the early part, the team had that even sharper focus in practice as it had nearly a week to prepare for that rematch with East Carolina.
If there was any hint UCF would have the same problem with East Carolina’s lack of size or shooting like it did in the first matchup in Greenville, they were put to rest pretty quickly. And then squished and rolled into the ground to the point that they could barely be recognized.
If the Knights were looking for some form of retribution for an offseason of hurt, they found it in an 89-69 thrashing of the Pirates at CFE Arena on Saturday. UCF throttled East Carolina early and buried East Carolina in a deep, deep hole.
“We talk about who we want to be,” coach Donnie Jones said. “Any time you walk in and watch a team play, how do you want to be revealed? You can tell a team that knows how to play by how they move the ball. We’ve worked on that. Those guys are starting to buy in and trust each other and that’s a key factor.”
The Knights worked the ball inside to Tacko Fall for a layup on the first possession. They would do it again and again in the first half, moving the defense with crisp passing to find the right angle to get him the ball where the defense could do nothing with his size.
It was part of UCF’s strategy to attack East Carolina’s zone defense, executed to perfection. It was the extra passes occurring along the perimeter time and time again. UCF was playing as unselfishly as it had all season.
The Knights followed up their forays into the post with 3-point shooting again and again. The first 3-pointer from Matt Williams seemed to set the pace for UCF’s offense. It was going to be raining all game.
UCF had 15 of the team’s 18 assists in the first half, building that gigantic lead that no East Carolina run was going to cut into.
And the defense was going to give it every chance to maintain that lead even without the absolute killer offense of the first half.
East Carolina was not necessarily missing shots against the UCF press and zone, but it was certainly not picking up any ground. The defense was working to contain penetration, funneling them toward McBride and Fall to block shots and using length to disrupt passes around the perimeter. East Carolina failed to attack the press and so found itself starting possessions later in the shot clock, leading to rushed shots.
The turnovers throughout the game and the slowed offense helped feed UCF’s offense and transition. The Knights were ahead early and their offense showed no signs of slowing, opening up as much as a 34-point lead early in the second half.
It showed the potential that is within this UCF team starting to turn some heads around the conference.
“We could really go as far as we make up in our mind we want to go,” McBride said. “We are our own worst enemy sometimes. I think that’s a lot with just humans. As soon as you break down that first barrier, that’s half the battle. You need that with hard work. That’s what separates the good from the great. The good have the idea of it, the great go out and do it.”
The Knights began showing a lot of that transition from killing each other in practice, as McBride described it, to showing off that passion, energy and execution in the game.
UCF shot 54.2 percent from the floor and 44.4 percent from beyond the arc. They tallied a 64.4 percent effective field goal percentage. More astoundingly hit 8 of 16 3-pointers in the first half and 14 of 17 2-point shots for 26 points in the paint and a 78.8 percent effective field goal percentage.
The Knights were scoring from all the efficient spots in the floor. UCF had a final tally of 1.25 points per possession for the game and an estimated 1.63 points per possession in the first half, dominating the game with its lethally efficient offense.
Tacko Fall scored 12 points, overwhelming the Pirates inside with eight points in his first half stint. Switching to Justin McBride showed no signs of slowing UCF’s offensive machine down either. He added 12 points and 11 rebounds himself. Even when he missed shots he seemed to go after the ball and get it, using his size to outmuscle East Carolina’s undersized front court.
It was much the same formula no matter which center was in. The Knights were going to pound the ball inside and kick it outside. The East Carolina defense was struggling to keep up with the crisp passing around the perimeter.
The team was making multiple efforts on both sides of the ball, beating East Carolina to loose balls time and time again.
The Knights’ balanced scoring was the story throughout with Adonys Henriquez and A.J. Davis each finishing with 13 points and five assists. And Daiquan Walker adding 13 more points too. Matt Williams scored six of his nine points early in the first half to get the offense rolling.
Everyone was getting involved.
UCF was focused in on this game — whether it came from thoughts from previous games or from making good on the opportunity ahead of them.
“I think the way we prepared for it was different,” A.J. Davis said. “Not the fact it was ECU but we’re just trying to to make sure as we go on in conference we take it to a different level and prepare for every game like we want to win it. We have just been really focused lately and trying to get the job done. We were preparing a lot better from our bigs to our guards knocking down shots. We were all just ready for the game.”
There was certainly a lot of work that went into this game coming off all the history the teams have with each other and the loss to SMU last week.
Then again, the way UCF played offensively and defensively was contagious with all the effort. Maybe the revenge angle was the wrong one.
The Knights played with the unselfishness and sacrifice that can only be described one way: Fun.
This one was certainly enjoyable for many reasons.
