Knights, Tars in trouble in conference play

Six games into conference play, the Knights men’s basketball team (9-8, 1-5) has lost five as they’ve fallen rapidly toward the bottom of the American Athletic Conference.

Since their lone two-point win over Temple (which is still winless in conference play), none of the Knights’ AAC games have even been close. Their biggest shot at an upset came against Rutgers, who would eventually go on to win by 10 points. Rutgers never relinquished the lead in that game.

The Knights, who have shot 34.4 percent in their five conference losses so far, have been on a scoring skid that’s spanned most of the season. The last time they shot more than 50 percent as a team — in a 90-62 rout of Valparaiso on Dec. 22 — they dominated.

But against stifling defenses the Knights have suffered, making the difference in every loss. Only once this season have the Knights allowed more than 85 points, but against tough teams including Louisville, UConn and Cincinnati, they’ve been held to an average of 59 points per game, a far cry from their 104-64 demolishing of Jacksonville before Christmas.

At Cincinnati (19-2, 8-0) in their most recent loss Jan. 23, the Knights showed signs of life, nearly matching a team ranked No. 13 in the AP Top 25 poll for half the game. Until the end of the first period try as they might, the Bearcats, who are running away with the AAC lead, couldn’t escape the Knights.

Then the second half happened. The Knights missed their first two shots, and then gave up six turnovers in the next three and a half minutes. In that time the Bearcats spread the scoring gap from three at the start of the half to 16 points wide five minutes later. The Knights would never come within single digits of the Bearcats for the rest of the game.

Despite recovering from a head injury at the time Knights star Isaiah Sykes nearly pulled off a triple double, with nine points, eight rebounds and six assists while grabbing five turnovers. But most of Sykes’ shots were from the free throw line. He would shoot less than 20 percent on the night.

They returned home to play No. 22 Memphis (15-4, 5-2) at press time Wednesday. At 9 p.m. Saturday they’ll be back on the road at No. 12 Louisville (17-3, 6-1) to face a Cardinals team that beat them 95-65 in CFE Arena on Dec. 31.

But at 7 p.m. Feb. 5 the Knights will have their rivalry game of the year against USF (10-10, 1-6), which is just behind the Knights in the AAC standings.

Rollins

The Tars men’s basketball team is 8-9 overall and 2-5 in the Sunshine State Conference after a 77-79 loss to Barry (13-3, 4-3) on Jan. 25. The loss came despite strong performances from Jeff Dirkin, who drilled every shot he took en route to 19 points, and Adam Allen, who scored 16 points despite only 21 minutes on the floor. The Tars would shoot 60 percent on the day and nearly 53 percent from outside the big arc.

Wednesday they played Florida Southern at press time. They hit the road for St. Leo to tip off at 4 p.m. Feb. 1 before they return to the Alfond Sports Center for a 7:30 p.m. showdown against Tampa (11-6, 4-4) on Feb. 5.

In a stacked Sunshine State Conference this season the Lady Tars have been dominant, with a 16-3 overall record and 5-2 in the SSC so far. They won convincingly against Barry in a 77-66 shootout with Rollins’ Sarah Blackburn shooting 17 points and Jasmine Cohen grabbing a wild 17 rebounds in the game.

The women’s team travels to St. Leo for a 2 p.m. game Feb. 1, but return 5:30 p.m. Feb. 5 against Tampa (12-5, 6-2).