Decent crowd, thanx to promos, 2nd time with 2 20-pt scorers, life without BJ

[UCFProf]

Lots of kids there. The 5PM start time helped.
Big student section despite last day of final exams, so many are long gone.
Could tell we missed BJ's but AD stepped up with 9 assists (gotta be a personal record by a mile)
Without Taylor, it was back to all but Tacko playing 33-36 minutes.
Took a long while before Md-EShore figured out to full-court press.
AD needed help bringing it up, but did surprisingly well, despite their effective traps.
Nate played 15 minutes to settle things down, direct offense, dribble out clock with no turnovers! He finally had a jersey with his name on it and the right number, too.
Held another team to under 30% shooting (28.4%). UCF shot 52.9%
Dominated the boards again (48-30), though opponents were scrappy and hustled.
Matt caught fire in the 2nd half right after shooting an air ball. He sank 5 of his 6 threes in second half.
Matt also recorded his first career double-double with 23 pts and 10 rebounds. Took til senior year.
With all his other new responsibilities, Davis rarely shot but did make 2 threes.
Tank filled in for BJ driving to the bucket or sinking jumpers in the lane for his 2nd straight 20 pt game.
Tacko finally missed a shot (4-5), had his first double-double since 4th game (10 pts, 11 reb), but in foul trouble as they'd draw him out on defense so he'd have to recover to guard cutters.
Don't forget Monday at 7PM vs. a decent Penn squad. Half-priced hot dogs.

 

[UCFan07]

I was there to- I wouldn't say there was "a lot" of kids there. The core right behind the basket was full but no students to the sides of that. And the upper deck was completely empty..

Could def tell they missed BJ - but nice job pulling away at the end - Matty Ice iced the game w/ 3's

 

[Happy Hands]

Once you've been married long enough you sort of get used to life withour BJs.

 

[UCFProf]

I was there to- I wouldn't say there was "a lot" of kids there. The core right behind the basket was full but no students to the sides of that. And the upper deck was completely empty..
Could def tell they missed BJ - but nice job pulling away at the end - Matty Ice iced the game w/ 3's

Our most recent weekend game, there were like 5 students! We've never gotten this kind of turnout from a dead campus. All for a lame Santa cap? For a game against a 1-8 team. Bravo Athletic Department for your efforts. Keep it up.

 

[Knight_Light]

I was there to- I wouldn't say there was "a lot" of kids there. The core right behind the basket was full but no students to the sides of that. And the upper deck was completely empty..

Could def tell they missed BJ - but nice job pulling away at the end - Matty Ice iced the game w/ 3's

Other than the Jammin Knights taking up all of the room in the bleacher, student attendance was "pretty light".

Remember, starting with tomorrow's game vs PENN, UCF is offering $5 tix to all games thru Jan 3 in the student bleacher section...as UCF knows full well most of their 35,000 "local" students will not attend any games (let alone during break), so UCF is hoping to fill some of those seats during the holidays...which is great for those with large families and/or want to take their kid's friends to games on the cheap.

In regards to the game, you can tell AJ is somewhat rusty...as his scoring confidence level isn't there yet...as he use to drive the lane at will and get to the FT line. (I think he missed his first 2 FT's tonight...which turned out to be his only FT's...which isn't like him at all...especially when the other team is in the bonus).

Craziest state of the day: AJ did not attempt a 2 pt FG shot today. (He averaged 6.5 two pt shots per game last year).

2nd craziest stat of the day was that Tacko only had 1 FG attempt in 2nd half (of course he made the shot) as his teammates struggled to get him the ball, even though his defenders were only 6'6 or 6'7".

In his 3 games this year, he is averaging just 2.3 FT's per game while last year he averaged 5.2 FT's per game...and ended up shooting 155 FT's last year...84 more than the 2nd most FT's by a Knight last year (71 by McBride).

Not only is AJ trying to play with a recent broken hand (didn't get much practice with it obviously for the past month), he is playing at a slightly lighter weight (maybe he doesn't have the confidence yet to take contact, especially coming off his injury).

Hope AJ is aggressive on Monday night...as UCF might need a big game from him vs Penn or at GW.

 

[UCFProf]

Other than the Jammin Knights taking up all of the room in the bleacher, student attendance was "pretty light".

Remember, starting with tomorrow's game vs PENN, UCF is offering $5 tix to all games thru Jan 3 in the student bleacher section...as UCF knows full well most of their 35,000 "local" students will not attend any games (let alone during break), so UCF is hoping to fill some of those seats during the holidays...which is great for those with large families and/or want to take their kid's friends to games on the cheap.

In regards to the game, you can tell AJ is somewhat rusty...as his scoring confidence level isn't there yet...as he use to drive the lane at will and get to the FT line. (I think he missed his first 2 FT's tonight...which turned out to be his only FT's...which isn't like him at all...especially when the other team is in the bonus).

Craziest state of the day: AJ did not attempt a 2 pt FG shot today. (He averaged 6.5 two pt shots per game last year).

2nd craziest stat of the day was that Tacko only had 1 FG attempt in 2nd half (of course he made the shot) as his teammates struggled to get him the ball, even though his defenders were only 6'6 or 6'7".

In his 3 games this year, he is averaging just 2.3 FT's per game while last year he averaged 5.2 FT's per game...and ended up shooting 155 FT's last year...84 more than the 2nd most FT's by a Knight last year (71 by McBride).

Not only is AJ trying to play with a recent broken hand (didn't get much practice with it obviously for the past month), he is playing at a slightly lighter weight (maybe he doesn't have the confidence yet to take contact, especially coming off his injury).

Hope AJ is aggressive on Monday night...as UCF might need a big game from him vs Penn or at GW.

 

[UCFProf]

Uh, AJ was out of the game a grand total of 4 whole minutes, once after he was winded after a length of court run to make a successful block (shades of Isaiah). He had to break their trapping press, bring the ball up, and direct an offense that tied for most assists (18), half of which were by AD. Davis had how many assists before yesterday? ONE. With Tank doing all the slashing to the basket successfully for the second game in a row, Davis was freed to focus his energies on the outside attempting and sinking his first 3s of season. It's called different rolls. Marcus did the same thing: first it was shutting down opponent's best player, then it was driving the lane, then making assists, then shooting 3s (whatever was needed at the time). When you only got 5 guys, that's what you do. And AD can do it all pretty well. It does make one appreciate how much BJ matters.
Note: lack of touches by Tacko in second half was also due to defense packing it in, freeing Matt to fire away. Fall even mentioned in radio post game how he looks for Matt to kick it out to -- how Tacko got his career high 3 assists!

 

[goodknightfl]

Once you've been married long enough you sort of get used to life withour BJs.

Speak for yourself.

 

[cnsaguy]

Going from Hoops Reports to Prof recaps is like going from reading bball stories from John Feinstein to a high school paper.

Hoops, please come back.

 

[Central Floridave]

LOL. I watched the game on espn3. solid performance. I'm impressed with the defense. We didn't see that last year!

 

[UCFProf]

Going from Hoops Reports to Prof recaps is like going from reading bball stories from John Feinstein to a high school paper.
Hoops, please come back.

Yes, yes! We need more sexist comments about dancers and references to our Division III basketball team 40 years ago.

 

[Happy Hands]

Speak for yourself.

I'm not able to do that for myself.

 

[Knight_Classes_begin_7pm]

Lots of kids there. The 5PM start time helped.
Big student section despite last day of final exams, so many are long gone.
Could tell we missed BJ's but AD stepped up with 9 assists (gotta be a personal record by a mile)
Without Taylor, it was back to all but Tacko playing 33-36 minutes.
Took a long while before Md-EShore figured out to full-court press.
AD needed help bringing it up, but did surprisingly well, despite their effective traps.
Nate played 15 minutes to settle things down, direct offense, dribble out clock with no turnovers! He finally had a jersey with his name on it and the right number, too.
Held another team to under 30% shooting (28.4%). UCF shot 52.9%
Dominated the boards again (48-30), though opponents were scrappy and hustled.
Matt caught fire in the 2nd half right after shooting an air ball. He sank 5 of his 6 threes in second half.
Matt also recorded his first career double-double with 23 pts and 10 rebounds. Took til senior year.
With all his other new responsibilities, Davis rarely shot but did make 2 threes.
Tank filled in for BJ driving to the bucket or sinking jumpers in the lane for his 2nd straight 20 pt game.
Tacko finally missed a shot (4-5), had his first double-double since 4th game (10 pts, 11 reb), but in foul trouble as they'd draw him out on defense so he'd have to recover to guard cutters.
Don't forget Monday at 7PM vs. a decent Penn squad. Half-priced hot dogs.

Not really alot of kids there given the size of the university and empty seats. Many empty regular seats. With the new changes I think we should be getting at least 5K per game.

 

[UCFProf]

Students aren't the "kids" I was referring to (students are legal adults). I was talking about the little kids that lots of people brought along. Also, promotion was extremely effective. The previous weekend games had virtually zero students, and last year these post final exams games were empty, too. We're making progress.