Senior Daiquan Walker has been a quiet difference maker for the UCF Knights throughout the season. More a steady hand of consistency at point guard for a team still seeking its identity and still finding just the right way to play with its unique lineup.
Walker is not someone who could score a lot or put up a ton of points. That just is not his role. He stays out of the ready, makes shots when left open and distributes the ball.
Thursday night in New Orleans, Walker did what was asked for him. That just happened to be scoring.
Walker scored a career-high 33 points, including 20 in the first half, as UCF easily defeated the Tulane Green Wave 70-62 at Devlin Fieldhouse in New Orleans on Thursday.
“I want the team to know when someone is hot to keep riding that wave,” Daiquan Walker told UCF radio play-by-play announcer Marc Daniels after the game. “It was just a great team effort. I know I had 33 points, but I owe it all to my teammates. I was struggling the last few games. My teammates having the confidence in me, me having the confidence in myself, coach [Donnie] Jones telling me tonight before the game to go out there and play like it’s high school. I just came out there with that confidence and that mentality.”
The Knights raced ahead thanks to Walker’s performance and needed every bit from him.
UCF hit just 14 of 39 shots outside of Walker’s 11-for-16 performance from the field. Walker his six of eight 3-pointers as UCF hit 10 as a team.
A.J. Davis added 13 points and eight rebounds on 4-for-12 shooting and Shaheed Davis added eight points and nine rebounds. A.J. Davis and Daiquan Walker combined for all of UCF’s 16 free throw attempts. UCF posted 1.09 points per possession.
Offense was not a problem with the way Walker was playing.
What has been inconsistent though is the defense. Tulane cut a 14-point deficit down to two points in the second half with 10:43 left in the game. From there, the Green Wave were in the game, inching the deficit down to one on several occasions, each time UCF found a way to maintain and hold the lead.
UCF had to rely on its seniors to eke this one out with Walker hitting two big baskets to extend the lead to six and Staphon Blair scoring a dunk — he had nine rebounds too — to help secure the lead and end any hope for Tulane.
A big 3-pointer from Shaheed Davis extended the lead from two to five points with less than a minute left and sealed the game. Even though the Knights had one consistent scorer, they got enough stops and enough points to win in the end.
It may have gotten a little shaky at the end, but UCF got the stops it desperately needed and stuck to the principles it has built throughout the season. The Knights steadied the ship after a three-game losing streak that saw the team play with some inconsistency.
“We just kind of do what we’ve been doing in practice,” Walker said after the game. “Coach came out before the game and asked us what do you want to do? A lot of those things is get stops and play defense.”
The Knights held the Green Wave to 0.97 points per possession. That will give any team a chance to win. It may not have hit UCF’s lofty goals for the game, but it got the team on track.
Through the gauntlet of conference play, the Knights needed a shot of confidence. Their senior point guard needed to have this kind of game with Adonys Henriquez out with a MCL sprain and Justin McBride mired in foul trouble.
That is sometimes what the team has to do to win.
[…] UCF needed every point it could get from Daiquan Walker in Thursday’s win over Tulane, and the team will need even more from its outside shooters in the next two weeks. […]