UCF will look to improve to 2-0 in the American when rival South Florida visits the CFE Arena Wednesday night at 7 p.m.
The Knights (7-5, 1-0 AAC) rallied from a late deficit to beat East Carolina on the road in Greenville last Saturday. The Bulls (3-12, 0-2 AAC) have struggled in the second year under Orlando Antigua, but have played teams competitively.
"We're excited to get back home and open up conference play here," UCF coach Donnie Jones said. "Open up with our rivals up the road at South Florida, who has been playing extremely well the last couple games. They've been in two close games against Houston and SMU. Obviously we're coming off a really good win on the road at a very good East Carolina team. Excited to get back in action at home in front of our fans. We know the rivalry of this game and what it means to our fans."
Here's more of what Donnie had to say during the Tuesday media availability. The video link above also includes brief interviews with A.J. Davis and Daiquan Walker.
How is the team's confidence right now?
"Confidence is good, especiallly coming off the game that we played here at home," Jones said. "We addressed a lot of things and got better. It showed down the stretch (at ECU). When we got down, these guys really rallied back."
Is this team getting closer to forming an identity?
"We are trying to develop that," Jones said. "We've had to play different lineups a lot. We even did it in that game, going small down the stretch there. We're still trying to fill that void. I think some guys are starting to get some experience now. I thought Daiquan did a good job running our team. Matt Williams gave us some good minutes. Then Tanksley is coming off the bench and playing extremely well for us over the last couple games which is good to see him emerge."
Tanksley Efianayi was the newcomer expected to provide the biggest boost, but the JUCO product got off to a slow start and saw limited minutes early in the season. His responsibility has increased in the past few games and he was a key piece on the floor when UCF made their comeback run to beat ECU, scoring 12 points.
"Tank is definitely very talented offensively. It's been, like most junior college guys, a transition to coming in and playing every day. I think defensively is the thing he can bring to us. Playing with that intensity each and every night is something that's now starting to be effective for him."
Donnie was then asked a general question about the development of the freshmen - Tacko Fall, Chance McSpadden and Chad Brown.
"I think like most freshmen, their season usually ended right now. Playing in the summer and the fall. It's all been mental. Mentally now, just taking that next step for those guys. We've got to push them through because we need those guys to play for us as we move into conference play. As you can see right behind us, these guys are working hard, early and often. They've got to get their confidence back and realize the speed and physicality in conference play is a different level."
In response to a question about conference play, Donnie added that their challenging non-conference slate was designed with an eye towards preparing the team for the American. He's said it before, but they easily could have scheduled easy wins instead of the likes of Davidson, UMass and George Washington.
"We did play four road games in another arena which I think was important for us, going on the road and playing in other people's venues," Jones said. "We set our schedule up and played a good GW team here, a good UMass team here, Davidson on the road. We've played some good quality opponents which helped prepare us mentally and physically to compete in conference play. I'm hoping from that experience that's going to carry over as we move forward."
In one of the American's odd scheduling quirks, Donnie was asked about the strange setup of four of their first five games being against East Carolina and USF. A GOLism ensued.
"You just focus on the next one. I treat them like one-game seasons. The last victory is over. We'll celebrate it until midnight and then we focus on South Florida. Obviously playing in a short period of time, at least we've seen them and our guys are more aware of what they're doing in the scouting report. That's a plus. It's always a challenge when you play an opponent in a short period of time."
I then brought up the fact UCF is hosting USF before the spring semester started and whether they'd tell the league office to change that to a later date in future seasons. It's a game UCF could really market to the students and most of them won't be in Orlando.
"We can give those suggestions, but there's so many factors that goes into a schedule and trying to make all 11 teams happy. From home venues to TV games, there's so much involved. It's always great to have your students here for those rivalry games. I'm sure their students will be there when we go over for their game. Unfortunately it didn't work out that way."
Wins have been hard to come by for USF, who have dealt with a rash of injuries. Point guard Roddy Peters (foot fracture) and shooting guard Troy Holston Jr. (ACL) are out for the season with major injuries. Only eight scholarship players are available to play.
"They've played well," Jones said. "Their physicality, their size. They are a zone team. We just played East Carolina, a zone team. They're a team that's playing free. They've got nothing to lose. Obviously they've had a tough start with some injuries. They've got a lot of new guys. They're rebuilding a program. They're going to play free and relentless. They're playing with confidence. What we can do is take care of the basketball and execute."
As for the Knights, A.J. Davis leads the team with 13.1 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. Early in the season he saw time in a point guard like role in addition to the small forward spot, but saw more time in the four spot last weekend at ECU.
"I think A.J. is growing," Jones said. "He didn't play a whole lot as a freshman at Tennessee. He sat out a year and came into a different style of play. We're asking a lot of him. We're asking him to play multiple positions. We moved him over to the power forward spot here in the last game. We're asking him to lead our team and do a lot. The biggest thing for him is consistency. He's almost like a freshman. One thing he does bring every day is effort and energy. He's competitive. I know he cares. Those are all good qualities."
With B.J. Taylor having been unavailable due to injury (and now out for the season), UCF initially experimented with Chance McSpadden starting at the point guard spot. That role has since been won back by senior Daiquan Walker.
"I need Daiquan to run our team," Jones said. "I'm not really looking for scoring. He was coming off the bench in a scoring role early on, but now with B.J. not being with us this year, I just need him to be the quarterback of our team. Get us in our sets, be that calming force, take care of the basketball. If shots are there, take the open shots. Really just make everybody else on the team better. I think from a defensive standpoint, he's always got a great challenge because one of the better guards in the league are the point guards so he has to a great job defensively as well."
