UCF comes from behind to advance in AAC tourney
UCF men’s basketball needed to come from behind to extend their season Thursday in the first round of the AAC tournament vs. SMU in Fort Worth, Texas, and the Knights advanced to the quarterfinals.
The Mustangs (10-22) led by as many as 13 points in the first half but a flurry by UCF (18-13) after the break made the difference in a 76-70 victory at Dickies Arena.
UCF guard Ithiel Horton scored all 15 of his points in the second half while CJ Kelly notched 18 in the final 20 minutes to bring his team-high total to 21, which included shooting 3-for-3 from beyond the arc.
Kelly pointed out that the Mustangs changed their defensive strategy at halftime from zone to man.
“We decided to use a lot of pickand-roll coverage and attack the bigs off the screen using my speed,” he said. “That was working so we just kept working with that.”
He made 6 free throws in the final two minutes to put the game out of reach for the Knights, who trailed 66-65 with 3:34 remaining.
“My teammates believe in me at the free-throw line,” Kelly said. “We go over free throws every day and [I was] just sticking to my same routine, not switching anything up and just watching it go through the net.”
The Knights entered the conference tournament with six single-possession and 10 singledigit losses in the regular season.
Taylor Hendricks (15 points, 8 rebounds) shared insight from UCF’s final huddle.
“In the last timeout, we were up and we were just talking about how we needed to close it out because we had been in that position so many times,” he said. “We told each other that we needed to close it out this time.”
The Mustangs led 36-28 at halftime after outrebounding the Knights 26-16 in the first 20 minutes. During the only regular-season meeting between these teams Jan. 8, SMU only grabbed 19 rebounds the entire game.
“Compared to the first game, those guys were crashing [the boards] a lot harder,” Hendricks said. “The emphasis was on the rebounds for sure for them.”
UCF turned things around defensively in the second half by scoring 15 points off SMU’s 9 turnovers while outrebounding the Mustangs 15-10.
The Knights used an 18-5 run from 16:05 of the second half to 10:21 to take their first lead 53-51 before the sides battled back and forth the rest of the way.
SMU’s leading scorer Zhuric Phelps (21 points, 7 assists) tied the score at 65 with 3:34 remaining and gave his team a 1-point lead on a free throw after he was fouled by Michael Durr.
Phelps missed the regular-season matchup between the teams when SMU lost by 32 points in Orlando due to injury.
“When we played them at our place, they didn’t have Phelps,” Knights coach Johnny Dawkins said. “He makes a huge difference.”
Horton nailed a 3 with 1:13 left to put UCF ahead by 4 points and Kelly closed out the game from the charity stripe.
The No. 7 seed Knights will face No. 2 Memphis in tonight’s quarterfinals (ESPNU, 7) .
UCF and Memphis (23-8) split the regular-season series with the Knights needing double-overtime to win 107-104 in Orlando on Jan. 11. The Tigers returned the favor more than a month later by escaping in the final moments 64-63 at home.
Memphis has eliminated UCF from the AAC tournament three straight times.
“We have to go back to the tape and see exactly what we have to do,” Dawkins said. “We have to find out what adjustments we need to make.”