Knights Men's Basketball Ready To Play The Tigers After Knocking Off The Bulls?

It’s been a topsy turvy year for the UCF Men’s Basketball team, but last night’s 60-58 victory over USF should provide the lift necessary to defeat Memphis tonight.

Author:
Brian Smith
Updated:
Mar 12, 2022 9:34 AM EST
Original:
Mar 11, 2022

FORT WORTH, Texas - UCF and USF battled back and forth last night, just like rivals typically do. With that in mind, somebody had to make a play to secure a victory.

With 33 seconds remaining, fifth-year senior guard Darius Perry drained a clutch three point shot to help the Knights finish off the Bulls. The third three pointer of the contest for Perry helped him to a team high 13 points. Winning against the rivals from Tampa, could this game finally help a very talented UCF team get in its groove?

Consider the following points when discussing UCF’s season, both good and bad, prior to tonight’s contest against Memphis:

During out of conference play, UCF has defeated Miami on the road and Michigan at home.
During out of conference play, the Knights lost on the road to Auburn 85-68, plus two chances to knock off a top 10 Houston team ended in double digit defeats as well. Losing to Oklahoma 65-62 hurt, as it was a winnable game.
When the Knights were hot from behind the arc, they were red hot, i.e. the incredible second half shooting display against Michigan.
When the Knights went into a funk, boy did they ever find a way to shoot themselves out of a game like the 88-60 loss at Memphis in which UCF shot a horrific 20/65 for 30.8%.

So, what UCF team will show up when the ball is thrown up tonight at 9 p.m. EST against Memphis?

Will the Knights that stormed back to crush Michigan take the court, will it be the team that laid an egg versus Memphis? Some place in between?

Darin Green, Jr.

Darius Perry

Perry and Green

Tonight is an opportunity to make up for a lot of wrongdoing. The Knights have a plethora of talent and quite frankly have not consistently lived up to their potential. Memphis is a darn good team, sitting with a 13-5 AAC record and 19-9 overall record. Defeating the Tigers tonight would be a huge momentum swing in UCF’s favor prior to playing Tulane or Temple in the semi finals.

While it’s easy to point to making big buckets as the reason UCF defeated USF and advanced to the second round of the AAC, there are honestly a few more definitive reasons about that game that need to happen again, if not even more, against the talented squad from Memphis.

First, how about the big fella, Cheikh Diong, coming up with five blocked shots! That not only negates potential baskets from those five attempts by the Bulls, but also helps to create doubt when other USF players consider driving to the hoop. If Diong continues to play defense like he did against USF, the Knights are certainly in a position to be in the game all the way until the very end of the contest.

On that note of blocked shots, UCF earned a whopping 13 for the game against USF. That's a tremendous defensive effort!

Effort also includes playing team basketball. Many of the Knights did not have a great shooting evening, but kept looking for one another when teammates were coming off screens and diving towards the rim. Whenever there’s unselfish play, even during tough offensive stretches, the odds will even out and the ball will start to find its way inside the cylinder. Perry’s clutch three is proof of that.

Can the Knights knock off Memphis tonight? Absolutely. The talent is there. Now let us all see what type of confidence and resolve this basketball team has after such a big win against USF. Will the third time be the charm for the Knights in their attempt to knock off the Tigers?

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