Knights able to get it done
UCF survives rocky 2nd half to defeat SMU on Wednesday
Before UCF men’s basketball head coach Johnny Dawkins even said a word in his postgame press conference, he let out a soft chuckle. He had just seen his team squander a 19-point lead at home in the second half. But once it was all over, he was able to laugh about it.
“A tale of two halves, right?” Dawkins said
That is the proper way to describe UCF’s latest on-court adventure, which resulted in a 61-58 victory over the SMU Mustangs on Wednesday night.
The first half — and especially the first eight minutes — contained some of the best basketball of the Knights’ season. They scored the first 19 points of the contest and held the Mustangs scoreless for nearly nine minutes. By the half, the Knights (15-14, 6-11 American Athletic Conference) built a 33-14 lead after limiting SMU to just 20% shooting.
“Just UCF defense” is what made it all possible, according to forward Collin Smith.
The Knights’ defense came out pressing and trapping the Mustangs at halfcourt. This led to turnovers and disoriented possessions, and the Knights took advantage. They scored 13 points directly off those turnovers, nearly matching their opponent’s offensive output.
The 14 points scored were the fewest allowed by UCF in any half this season.
“I think we came out and we were alert, focused,” Dawkins said. “Offensively, I thought we were hitting on all cylinders.”
But following halftime, the Knights were stuck in neutral while the Mustangs (19-10, 9-8 AAC) raced out on a 7-0 run within the first three minutes. After committing six turnovers throughout the entire first half, UCF turned the ball over six times within the first nine minutes of second half, which led to 10 SMU points.
The Knights’ defense also couldn’t stop a series of backcuts and baseline drives as the Mustangs’ once-bereft offense was suddenly piling up dunks and layups. SMU had a nine-minute stretch in which it made 11 of 13 shots. By the end of this run, capped off by a dunk from forward Isaiha Mike, UCF found itself trailing 49-48 with 6:11 to play.
When Dawkins was asked afterward what he felt like during this shift, he gave the obvious retort with a tinge of sarcasm.
“Well, whenever you have a 19-point lead and they regain the lead on you, you’re not feeling great,” he said.
However, the Knights would pick themselves up off the mat and score the next five points. Then UCF’s best player, Smith, began to take over.
The Jacksonville native was ultimately one of the main reasons UCF won this game. He was also a reason they nearly lost it.
Smith’s hero turn began at the 4:20 mark of the second half as his emphatic rejection of a dunk attempt by guard Tyson Jolly “really set a heck of a tone for us,” Dawkins said.
Smith was rewarded immediately for that highlight as he got the ball in the paint and scored to put the Knights up 56-51.
The Mustangs reclaimed the lead with another 7-0 run and moved in front 58-56. But the next three points all came from Smith, all on free throws to give the advantage back to the Knights with 40 seconds to play.
The Knights tacked on two more points from guard Brandon Mahan thanks to his all-out effort to chase down a loose ball and draw another foul after Smith missed a free throw.
Now leading by three with the ball and less than 30 seconds on the clock, all UCF needed to do was hold steady, wait for SMU to commit a foul and hit more free throws.
But Smith got greedy. In an effort to kill more time, he tried a cross-court pass out of the corner, which was picked off by Mike. Just like that, what appeared to be a UCF victory was once again extremely tenuous.
But Smith stayed composed and played solid defense on the Mustangs’ final possession. SMU had to settle for a forced 3-pointer from Jolly. As the ball fell short, Smith said to himself, “Thank god.”
“That’s what was going through my head because I had that boneheaded play at the last second,” Smith continued. “I was just like, ‘Oh my goodness. I can’t lose this game. Not me.’”
Smith ended up being the game’s highscorer with 19 points. He made 9 of 11 free throws, grabbed seven rebounds and had that one gigantic block.
“Collin had a terrific game for us,” Dawkins said. “I was really proud of his overall game — except the pass.”
UCF’s next game will be its last of the regular season. It will play the East Carolina Pirates on Sunday at 2 p.m. at Addition Financial Arena. The team will hold its Senior Knights festivities before tipoff.