UCF Knights hit three-game skid versus AAC opponents

The UCF Knights had three of their toughest American Athletic Conference games in the past week, and they lost all of them.

The back-to-back 5-point losses to Memphis (16-6, 6-3) and SMU (18-4, 8-1) ended close, but the 77-66 loss to Tulsa (12-8, 6-2) saw the Knights lose a 6-point second half lead as they resurrected a ghost of the past: the Knights shot just 33 percent in the second half.

That offensive collapse brought back memories of a UCF team that had consistent shooting issues for most of former head coach Donnie Jones’ tenure. That problem seemed to be a thing of the past for the team under new head coach Johnny Dawkins.

Even 7-foot-6-inch center Tacko Fall, who does most of his shooting from within a foot of the basket, was 2-for-6 on the night. Meanwhile the team combined to commit 16 turnovers, cutting down on their shot at getting back into the game.

Doing his best to stem that ebbing shooting, B.J. Taylor went 7-for-16, totaling 23 points in the losing effort, 15 of those points coming in the final 8 minutes of the game.

Tulsa would go on to outscore the Knights 11-4 in the final minute, culminating in the Knights’ giving up more points to an opponent than they had all season.

The Knights (14-7, 5-4) hosted Houston (15-7, 5-4) at press time Wednesday, with still plenty of games left in the season to go on a winning run of their own.

Three of the next four teams the Knights will face are in the top four in the AAC. Their most immediate foe, Memphis, took away a 68-65 Knights lead with just a minute left to play on Jan. 22. That happened in Tennessee. This time the Knights will host, at 5 p.m. Saturday.

Especially difficult will be No. 14 Cincinnati (19-2, 8-0), who the Knights will have to face on the road at 9 p.m. next Wednesday. The last time the two teams met, on Feb. 9 last year, the Bearcats demolished them 69-51.

UCF women’s basketball

The lady Knights continued to struggle in conference play, falling to 13-8 overall and 3-5 in the AAC after losing a third quarter lead to fall 65-59 to Memphis.

Despite that poor record in the AAC the Knights are still midway up the ladder thanks to the dominance of an undefeated UConn and a potent USF.

Thankfully for the Knights, they won’t be facing those teams for more than a week. Saturday the Knights face one of the conference’s weakest teams at SMU (11-10, 2-6) at 3 p.m. After that they return home to host Houston (8-13, 1-7) at 7 p.m. next Wednesday.