UCF is touting Wednesday's home opener as "the biggest in college basketball."
It's a literal statement. The game will showcase two 7-foot-6 centers: UCF freshman Tacko Fall and UC Irvine's Mamadou Ndiaye, a junior. It's believed to be the tallest matchup of players in college basketball history.
It's also another big test for the Knights. This past Saturday UCF lost a close 90-85 road game at Davidson, a team that won the Atlantic 10 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament a season ago. UC Irvine is the defending Big West Champions and expected to make the NCAA Tournament again.
The Anteaters are 2-0 with early-season wins against UC San Diego (89-73) and Loyola Marymount (77-53). In those two games, Ndiaye ranks second in points (11.5), first in rebounding (6.0) and already has 10 blocked shots. 6-foot-10 forward Mike Best leads the team averaging 15.0 points.
-UCF Game Notes
-UC Irvine Game Notes
Donnie Jones met with the media on Tuesday to preview the game.
Opening statement:
"We're excited for the first opening game (at home). It's a big game in a lot of ways. Obviously the start of a new year with our new team. I know a much anticipated matchup between the two big guys, Mamadou and Tacko. We looked to schedule this game knowing these two hopefully would be playing against each other. We knew we had to do some things with Tacko with his eligibility. We're thankful that's all been resolved. I think this is great for college basketball. This is probably the biggest matchup, size wise, against two centers that we've seen in college basketball in some time."
On Tacko's first game at Davidson:
"He's still got a huge upside. I think the biggest thing with Tacko is he didn't practice over the last seven or eight days having to sit out with the NCAA stuff. I thought we needed to establish him from day one by putting him in there. Tacko hasn't been a focal point because not knowing if he'd ever be eligible. Our focus has been on the rest of the team this summer, being on the tour and coming into the fall. I think now we've had a couple days here to practice. We'll have today as well. Our guys need to get used to playing with him. He played in a tough environment playing against a Davidson team. I don't think a guy got really got below the free-throw line. He was standout around the free-throw line on defense most of the time. A tough matchup for him, but I thought he did a good job for his first game. This matchup will be different because he'll be playing in the paint a lot with another big guy."
On how far behind Tacko was due to not practicing:
"We have a lot of good players on our team and other big guys. We had to put our focus on that, not knowing if Tacko would be there. When he did practice, he was always on the other team. He was always sharing minutes with Chad Brown who is a freshman. We had to focus on his development as well. There's been a lot of unknowns with our guys getting used to playing with Tacko. We've still got a lot of time. It's a long season ahead. We're glad he's able to get some experience in playing."
On how many minutes Tacko and Mamadou may face off:
"They have two big guys. They got 7-6 and then they go 7-2. They alternate both those guys. They're a very big team. He's probably playing right around 20 minutes a game. That's what we like to have Tacko at here, but he's trying to get his conditioning back and get used to playing at that pace. He played 14 minutes in the last game. We're hoping to bring him along slowly. We all want to put him in the fire. That's the only way he's going to grow and develop."
On the positives at Davidson:
"A lot of positives. Other than the loss. This team, for a first game, walking in that kind of atmosphere against a NCAA Tournament team. I thought we did a good job with some adjustments. We held them to one three-pointer in the second half. We shot 29 free throws, had 18 assists, we held them to 23 percent from the three-point line. They took 37 of them in the game which was a lot. I thought our team did a good job in sharing the basketball and playing with a lot of guys in different spots. We've got a lot of versatility with this group. Obviously B.J. Taylor. He's been out four weeks. We anticipate at least two more before he plays. Not having him as our floor general. A.J. Davis only played 12 minutes due to foul trouble, which hurt as well. But I thought there were a lot of plusses for a first time for a lot of guys on that floor."
On the bench scoring vs. Davidson:
"I think that's the strength of this team. We can get better in practice. We have full scholarships now. We have some kids that were sitting out. Our freshmen are talented. Our veterans have gotten better. That's the exciting thing. We can play different lineups. We can play two bigs tomorrow night which you'll see with Justin together or even Tacko and Staphon together. That will happen in this game because of matchups. I like we have versatility. We'll start A.J. Davis at the point guard, 6-foot-9, that's who will start at the point. We have guys that can play in different spots which makes us a matchup problem as well."
On the expected crowd:
"I hope it's sold out. That's our goal. We've got to do our part and bring some excitement to it. I think this is an exciting group. I know what it would do for our team. Those guys feed off the energy, being able to get the students out. Get the people back on the bus, should we say, with this team. I think it's going to be a fun group."
On Matt Williams coming back after his injury:
"I'm so happy for him. Nobody has gone through more in this program than Matt Williams and nobody has handled it better. For him to give us those minutes was encouraging I think for all of us. Matt is going to bring something to us. He's another guy that can shoot it and now he can put the ball down on the ground. His knee is actually better than what it was before he had surgery. It's helped him immensely. He gives us a different weapon. He's a 6-5 big guard. This team is built to compete in our league now. We have length, we have size, we have big guards and we have depth. You need all that to compete in our conference night in and night out."
On Chance McSpadden's performance:
"He came in and played 27 minutes and played a lot of those minutes because we were in foul trouble, but he played well. I know he's talented, but you never know how freshmen are going to play when the lights come on, especially being on the road at a place like Davidson. They can expose you real quick defensively because they're so great offensively. They're one of the top five scoring teams in the country."
On areas where Tacko can improve:
"We've watched a lot of film. The biggest thing is our guys learning how to play with him. Where to get him the ball, how to play out of the post, how for him to stay out of foul trouble and using his size. There's a lot of little stuff that he'll be able to do, with his experience, those other things will come to him."
On Tacko as an athlete:
"Yeah, he is. The biggest thing for him is he's got two incredible skills, one he can block shots which you can't teach from a timing standpoint. I had Hassan Whiteside at Marshall who is at Miami now. He had a gift. You can't teach that. The second thing is he can rebound the ball. He has a feel to go get it. The thing for Tacko is he's a good runner. He's 300 pounds. A lot of people don't realize that. He's gained almost 30 pounds since he's been here. He's a good runner. And he's got good hands. The biggest thing for him is the speed sometimes because he hasn't played as much. It's getting used to the speed of the game. That will come with experience."
On whether there's been another matchup like this:
"I know there's been some big guys. Shawn Bradley. I'm not sure there was another guy that went up against him. I'm not sure if Shawn Bradley and Manute Bol went against each other. In college, I'm not sure there's been a matchup like this before."
On 7-foot-7 Kenny George who had knee problems, and what they've learned to try and keep Tacko healthy:
"We've talked about that. It's been documented. The first thing when Tacko signed here we immediately had our trainers and strength coaches call the Houston Rockets. We talked to Yao Ming's people and talked about the important things they focused on in Yao Ming's development. The first thing they talked about is his feet. Anybody who is a large human like that with the pounding on their feet and the movement all the time, it's really hard. The first thing we did with Tacko was orthotics for his feet, his shoes that he walks around in every day. We also looked at the dynamics of how he lands, how he stands, how he sits. We spent a good three or four weeks this summer with no lifting. It was teaching his posture. I thought that was huge. That's for preventive injury issues with him. How we run him. We have to train him different. He still runs and does things on the floor, but we have to limit his way of conditioning. It could be on a bike, eliptical, stretching, cold tank. He's getting rehab every day. Not because he needs it because of injury, but to prevent things down the road with the way he moves."
On 2-0 UC Irvine:
"They're really talented. Won the Big West last year and picked to win it again. They have all those guys back from last year's team. We knew coming in the first two games right off were NCAA Tournament teams and picked to go back again. We knew it was going to be a huge challenge for six new guys on our team. For us, UC Irvine coming in here, we knew this matchup would be great for us. One, we thought it would be great because of the size but also it's another team that's set the standard. Instead of playing a team that you can beat by 30 with and your guys don't get better from it, I think it's better to set the standard of where we need to be and what we've got to get better at by playing these teams."
On the outside attention Tacko has received:
"I think the biggest thing he's gotten relief right now. He's very thankful for the opportunity to play. He's one of the most humble, humility is his middle name which how this kid has handled everything he's been through. He's thankful for all the people that have supported him. Now more than anything, he's a kid that just wants to fit in. I know with his size, he stands out, but he's a kid that wants to fit in. I think he just takes it day by day. We don't put any expectations on him other than trying to be a part of the team and letting those things evolve. It's my job as a coach to protect him from all those things to try to be something bigger than what you are."
On whether Tacko is a project:
"No, he's not a project. Obviously he needs time and experience. I think the biggest thing for him right now is he's so coachable and he picks up things so quick. That's a skill too. Most big guys take longer to develop. Those guys like Joakim Noah, he played five minutes a game at Florida. Same with Al Horford early on. It takes time. Hassan Whiteside didn't start the first eight games at Marshall when I had him. It takes big guys to catch up with the speed and where they fit in. We've established him from day one because I think our team has to get used to playing with him. He adds a different presence immediately with two things he can do is obviously change shots and rebound the ball and he can be a rim protector for our team to make up for a lot of things on defense."
