- March 29, 2024
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The Knights suffered another loss to a struggling team in Storrs, Conn., on Jan. 22, and then parlayed it into just another game in a three-game losing streak by falling to Cincinnati three nights later.
The Knights are now 2-6 in conference play after seeing most of what the American Athletic Conference has to offer.
Blunting the impact of those losses a bit, four of the Knights’ most most recent dropped games have come against the conference’s best teams.
The 67-60 loss to UConn, which didn’t have a winning record in conference play going into the game, was especially galling for the accuracy-challenged Knights, who shot 36.8 percent in the game. Even after out-rebounding the Huskies and getting nearly twice as many second-chance points, the Knights still came up short.
Justin McBride tried to shoulder the Knights to victory under the post all by himself, scoring 11 points — nearly good enough for the team high on this off night — and grabbing 10 boards. Most of his sunk shots came from the foul line, as his aggressive under-basket play was met with even more aggressive Husky defense.
In their would-be rebound game turned streak-extender against Cincinnati, the Knights kept their home crowd out of it by sinking less than a third of their shot attempts, and letting the Bearcats find the easy points under the basket and build a 29-24 first half lead. That would only extend in the second half, as the Knights’ already dismal shooting got even worse.
Kasey Wilson tried to keep the Knights in the game, snagging more than a third of the Knights’ rebounds himself and leading the team with 12 points. But the Knights couldn’t avoid a collapse at the end of the game, just as they pulled themselves closer to the Bearcats than they’d been since late in the first half. Daiquan Walker sank his third three-pointer (of the Knights’ four for the game) with 4:38 left to bring UCF within four points of tying the Bearcats, and the Knights never scored again.
A Wednesday night showdown against one of the conference’s winning teams, Temple, should be a big test of the Knights’ resilience, having lost 84-78 earlier this season.
They’ll head to Dallas for a rematch against SMU on Saturday, which could prove a much better test, as the Mustangs are only a game out of the top of the AAC, and they’re the only AAC team getting votes in the NCAA Top 25, placing them just out of the ranking at No. 28.
The last time the two teams played, the closest the Knights came to a win was being tied five minutes past the start of the game, during which UCF committed two turnovers and gave up a steal in the first minute alone.
A win could put the Knights on their way to a rebound, as they’re facing four of the AAC’s worst teams by record (UCF is the fifth) in their next few games.
The Knights tip off against SMU at 8 p.m. Saturday, televised on ESPNU.