UCF started the season’s final stretch on a positive note Wednesday night at CFE Arena, earning a 70-61 victory over UConn.
It was the Knights’ first win over the Huskies since 2011 and only the second in school history.
“We talked about having to max out now that we’re getting healthier, and I thought our guys played that way,” UCF coach Johnny Dawkins said. “I feel like we played with a lot of energy for all 40 minutes.”
That energy didn’t translate to much scoring early on, with the two teams playing to a 3-3 tie at the 14:46 mark in the first half.
From that point on, blows were exchanged between the two teams before Terrell Allen beat the buzzer with a third-chance tip-in to give the Knights a 31-29 halftime lead.
The energy was there, but defense won the first half.
“I thought tonight was a slugfest early on,” Dawkins said. “I thought both teams were really just digging in defensively. We had to keep our defense as our constant and we did that, then when we started making shots, everything kind of fell into place.”
The Knights (14-7, 5-4 AAC), even without injured 7-foot-6 center Tacko Fall, continued to dominate in the paint and on the glass.
They outscored the Huskies (11-11, 4-5 AAC) 30-24 in the paint and out-rebounded them 38-26.
Chad Brown, who has taken on a bigger role since Fall went down with an injury, helped that effort. He finished with 10 points and eight rebounds, adding the energy the Knights needed during his 27 minutes on the court.
UCF keptkept pressure on UConn throughout the night, but the Huskies kept fighting back. The Knights held a 48-41 lead with 11:40 left in the game, only to find themselves in a 50-50 game just five minutes later.
But as the game entered its final stretch, UCF point guard B.J. Taylor took over. He scored or assisted on the team’s next nine points before finishing the night with a game-high 20 points.
“I definitely think every game, you can see chemistry is growing,” Taylor said. “We all play unselfish and move the ball, kind of like we did tonight, and we can be very dynamic offensively.”
The offense did improve on Wednesday night, with nine different players chipping in during the 70-point effort.
Aftera 62-53 loss to UConn on Jan. 10, UCF bounced back with a different game plan and executed on both ends of the floor. Jalen Adams, UConn’s leading scorer this season, scored just 11 on four-of-10 shooting.
“We had a better game plan this time around,” Dayon Griffin said. “We [saw] what killed us last time. We knew Adams was a good player and what he creates for the team, so we just tried to take him out of the game and make other players step up.”
UCFUCF contributions from all over the court, but down the stretch, Taylor sealed the win.
“B.J. makes them go,” UConn coach Kevin Ollie said. “He was terrific today. He pretty much controlled the game; we couldn’t keep him out of our yard.”
UCF continues its final stretch of the season on Saturday when it hosts Houston at noon.