UCF sets sights on making deep run in WNIT
Before UCF basketball players could even contemplate inhaling some Thanksgiving leftovers, their season goals already appeared to be out of reach.
Both veteran post players Tolu Omokore and Fifi Ndour — who accounted for the bulk of the Knights’ rebounding and interior strength — were out due to season-ending injuries. But instead of hitting a skid during the second season, UCF battled its way to third place in the American Athletic Conference and just narrowly missed an NCAA Tournament invitation after posting a 21-10 record.
Winning — no matter the obstacle — is the expectation and not the outlier now. Players expect nothing less after making school history with back-to-back WNIT appearances.
UCF will host Jacksonville in the first round of the WNIT at 6 p.m. today at CFE Arena.
“I don’t think they’re ever disappointed in getting the opportunity to play again. I think that we were just so close and then you get so greedy,” UCF coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson said in response to any lingering disappointment about missing the NCAA Tournament.
“Obviously we needed to take care of business. In the preseason games, we were very injured so we had to relearn our team again and so that kind of hurt us the most. But we’re real excited. We have great teams in our conference and they prepared us for this postseason.”
UCF again proved to be one of the scrappiest teams in the American, and likely in the country, holding No. 1 undefeated UConn to a season-low 55 points during the schools’ second meeting this season on Feb. 7.
With Omokore Ndour unavailable to and play, UCF was able to fill the interior behind freshman forward Masseny Kaba and small forward Nyala Shuler. Even 5-foot-8 guard Kayla Thigpen played most of the year at the four to strengthen the Knights’ rebounding.
“At first it sucks to lose two great post players but at the same time we still have to keep playing,” said senior guard Zakiya Saunders, who averaged 6.5 rpg during conference play. “We stuck together and our coaches talked to us about what they wanted to do. We still had the same playing style. Different people on the team had to step up in different positions and we just kept playing our style of basketball.”
UCF’s tenacious defense put the team in position to reach the school’s first NCAA tournament since 2010. But AbrahamsonHenderson said her team’s earlier losses likely hurt their bid.
Any disappointment over the missed invite quickly dissipated as players turned their attention toward making a WNIT postseason run, starting with Jacksonville.
Although UCF leads the series 12-6, the Dolphins are experiencing their own turnaround under head coach Yolett McPhee-McCuin.
Jacksonville finished second place in the Atlantic Sun Conference and, like UCF, earned an automatic bid to the WNIT tournament. McPhee-McCuin is taking the Dolphins to their third consecutive postseason appearance having garnered an NCAA tournament invite in the 2015-16 season.
“She’s a great coach. She coaches a lot like me in terms of ‘let’s play hard, defense is how we’re going to win games,’” AbrahamsonHenderson said. “She’s got phenomenal athletes on her team and I have a lot of respect for her. She does a great job with her program.”