UCF struggles
Houston overpowers UCF during American quarterfinals
in the AAC Tournament quarterfinals, falling 84-56 to Houston at Amway Center.
Just about everything that could have gone wrong for UCF did during an 84-56 loss to Houston in the quarterfinals of the American Athletic Conference Tournament at Amway Center Friday night.
Knights senior leader A.J. Davis, who averaged 18.3 points per game entering the contest, missed most of the second half after picking up his fourth foul at the 17:08 mark. Officials called him for a blocking foul on a drive to the basket.
For much of the game, UCF struggled to convert from the field and players were uncharac- teristically outrebounded. Houston’s strong shooting — led by guard Rob Gray’s 17 points — certainly didn’t help matters.
The errors and miscues ultimately bounced UCF out of the tournament. Houston will face Wichita State in the semifinals today at 3:30 p.m. CBS will broadcast the game.
B.J. Taylor led UCF with 20 points, scoring 17 of those in the second half when he tried to rally the team from a double-digit deficit.
Taylor, who missed 16 games earlier this season due to a foot injury, struggled to produce enough clutch baskets he’s delivered so many times before in big games. Davis’ foul trouble and Houston’s hot shooting created a
scoring gap the Knights could not overcome.
By the time Houston guard Corey Davis Jr. hit a 3-pointer with about four minutes left, the Cougars claimed a 19-point lead and squashed any chance of a UCF rally.
Taylor and Davis retired from the game with 1:58 left as UCF fell behind 76-54.
The Knights had been out of the contest for a long time, struggling early against the potent Houston lineup.
UCF’s hard-nosed defense that entered the contest with the No. 7 defensive field-goal percentage in the country couldn’t put pressure on the Cougars during the first half.
Houston pushed the pace on the floor, almost skipping up the court to knock in long jumpers and a handful of deep 3-pointers. Houston 6-foot-7 forward Devon Davis was perfect, knocking in all six field-goal attempts in the first half to score 14 points. The Cougars also capitalized on the Knights’ errors, scoring 12 points off UCF’s six turnovers and forcing Davis to pick up three early fouls.
The Cougars played like a team on mission. Kelvin Sampson, who was voted the American Coach of the Year, is looking to lead Houston back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2010.
UCF played like a team searching for its identity. Two of its top players sidelined by injuries, Aubrey Dawkins and Tacko Fall, looked on from the bench.
Tigers move on
The ball hung in the air for what seemed an eternity, but in actuality it was nothing more than a split second.
A split second was all it took for Kareem Brewton Jr.’s 24-foot runner at the buzzer to give Memphis a thrilling last-second 67-64 win over Tulsa in the quarterfinals of the American Athletic Conference Friday at Amway Center.
“It was just basketball instinct that you have when the ball comes off good, you feel like it’s going to go in and that’s what happened. It went straight through the net,” Brewton said of the shot.
Memphis coach Tubby Smith added, “It was certainly a clutch shot that Brewton made there at the end. I thought our guys showed a lot of, again, courage and a lot of heart and a lot of toughness.”
The Tigers (21-12) will face top-seeded Cincinnati today in the semifinals at 1 p.m.
Bearcats win
Cincinnati basketball coach Mick Cronin likes to talk about how it doesn’t take an offensive juggernaut to win basketball games.
Jarron Cumberland proved it Friday.
The Bearcats’ sophomore guard didn’t score a point in Cincinnati’s 61-51 victory over SMU in the quarterfinals of the American Athletic Conference Tournament at Amway Center, but he did everything else while helping lead the No. 8-ranked Bearcats.
“Jarron Cumberland, he was the player of the game. He had eight deflections, he had eight assists, he had two unbelievable offensive [rebounds] … [he] just gives us a toughness that we need. He’s just a real, real competitor,” Cronin said. “He’s a guy that scored 2,000-something points in high school, but he’s becoming a winner and he helped us … if it wasn’t for him, we don’t win this game.
“So you can play great without scoring, contrary to 99 percent of what the popular belief is in little league basketball.”
SMU forward Akoy Agau said Thursday it would be hard for Cincinnati (28-4) to win for a third time this season against SMU.
He was right. It wasn’t exactly easy, but the tourney’s top-seeded Bearcats made it a season sweep of the Mustangs despite an impressive effort from SMU.
The Mustangs had plenty of opportunities, but some self-inflicted miscues here and there came at key moments of the game when SMU could have taken over the momentum of the game. Cincinnati took advantage of those miscues.
“I thought we played hard. They do what great teams do — grind it out, find a way to win,” said SMU’s Ben Emelogu, who finished with 11 points.
Shockers roll
No 11 Wichita State held off a Temple’s second-half surge, earning an 89-81 win in the quarterfinals.
Landry Shamet (25-6) led the Shockers with 24 points, while Quinton Rose paced the Owls (17-15) with 25.