UCF's losing streak

A game after suffering their first loss on the court this year, the Knights have suffered their second. UCF’s mens basketball team (14-2, 1-2) had been on a 14-game win streak just before it came crashing down in the team’s first week of conference play.

“We’re going to have to regroup,” Coach Donnie Jones said. The new UCF coach had led his team on a dominant run at the start of the season, but he has seen his Knights struggle against important conference foes.

That’s just what’s happened against two of the three Conference USA teams they’ve played so far. And with the losses seems to have come a loss of team cohesion, as a usually widespread offense has taken a backseat to one or two stars who have made all the shots.

Saturday night that was Marcus Jordan, the guard who’s proven a consistent player on the season, but who took control against Southern Miss to score 20 points, pick up four assists and three rebounds. Behind him, forward Keith Clanton nailed 14 points of his own while grabbing seven boards. Though the Knights spread points around, no other player had more than 9 in the game.

As a team against the Golden Eagles, the Knights shot just 44.6 percent, allowing Southern Miss to hit 51.6 percent of its shots. That included a big second half run in which the Knights watched a 36-35 halftime stalemate turn into an 86-69 blowout.

Wednesday night the Knights return home for a showdown against East Carolina at 7 p.m.

Rollins

Meanwhile the Rollins Tars mens basketball team has been rolling all over opponents, on a three-game streak at the start of January.

Saturday night they trounced Saint Leo 85-73 with the help of Nick Wolf’s 23 points, plus Myk Brown’s 22 points and four assists.

The slick-shooting Tars nailed 56 percent of their shots, including going 18-20 from the free throw line.

The win put the Tars up to 12-4 and 4-1 in conference play.

At 7:30 p.m. Wednesday night, the Tars host Florida Tech in another conference matchup.