Knights face conference showdown in Memphis

The last time the Knights played Memphis, 15,000 people came out to watch them lose. By Feb. 12, 2014, UCF’s men’s basketball team had played 10 conference games and emerged with nine losses, well on their way to a 4-14 AAC record that would mark the low point of head coach Donnie Jones’ tenure. The Tigers were well on their way to a fourth straight NCAA Tournament appearance. But a funny thing happened in Memphis; with a little over nine minutes left in the game, the Knights were still tied with one of the best teams in the country.

The Tigers had stifled UCF’s offense in the first period, holding them to 30 points. But then the Knights did something they rarely did in their doomed 2013-14 season; posting up 30 percent more points in the second half, coming within a few minutes of topping a relative basketball powerhouse before succumbing 76-70. And the Knights did it in what had been called a rebuilding year.

With a rematch with Memphis rapidly approaching, the Knights are looking for a reboot in conference play.

Only two Knights with significant starting experience last season are still starting for the black and gold this season. Brandon Goodwin scored six points the last time he played Memphis. As a sophomore, Goodwin leads a UCF team that’s in an eerily similar position as they were last time. Just emerging from non-conference play, the Knights were still clinging to an 8-7 overall record before playing Tulane at press time Wednesday. By then, in that all-important conference play, they had played four games and won only one of them.

Their most recent loss was more of the same for a team struggling to keep up the tempo late in games. Against SMU, which has started its season 12-4 overall and 3-1 in the AAC, the Knights trailed early and then collapsed. They shot barely over 36 percent for the game, while letting the Mustangs shoot 57 percent. In the second half of the game the Mustangs would bury all their shots with more accuracy than UCF’s first half free-throw percentage. The Knights were out-rebounded by 35-27, with the Mustangs snatching away the Knights’ desperately needed second chance shots.

“I thought we put ourselves in position to have a chance,” Jones said after the game. “You have to make some shots to win.”

The result was a 70-61 loss that pushed the Knights even farther down the AAC ladder, and uncomfortably close to a USF team that holds the unwelcome distinction of the first team in the conference to lose 10 games so far.

Memphis is just above them on that ladder. Fresh off a 62-44 win at Houston (7-8, 0-4), the Tigers were on their way to Cincinnati mid-week at press time. Lucky for the Knights, the Tigers are also off to one of their worst starts in a decade, at 9-6 overall and 2-2 in conference play. Both of those wins have come against Houston — the worst team in the conference. Both losses have come against two of the conference’s best teams, but by wide margins.

Led by high-energy forward Austin Nichols, who scored 16 points, grabbed seven rebounds and blocked four shots against Houston, the Tigers have shot poorly this season — averaging less than 45 percent against even winless teams — and rebounded well on defense.

How they’ll fare against UCF remains to be seen; UCF doesn’t have many familiar faces with significant playing time compared to last season. But the teams have two things in common; they’ve both beaten Houston, and they’re both looking to shake off a slow start in conference play.

The teams will tip off at 2 p.m. Eastern Time on Saturday at the FedExForum in Memphis, broadcast on ESPNews.