Knights can’t overcome miscues in home loss
Battered, bruised and at times frustrated, UCF found itself in another tough Big 12 contest.
No. 8 Iowa State used a smothering trap defense that confounded and confused the Knights throughout much of the game, forcing a season-high 22 turnovers as the Cyclones hung on for a 60-52 win on Saturday.
UCF guards Darius Johnson and Shemarri Allen scored 15 combined second-half points, but the Knights couldn’t overcome crucial mistakes late in the game.
“We have to take care of the ball better. We’ve had to do that better all season long,” said UCF coach Johnny Dawkins. “We emphasized that before the game about not turning the ball over and making sure we take care of the basketball because a big part of their offense is turning you over and scoring real fast.”
The teams combined for 39 turnovers, with ISU (23-6, 12-4 Big 12) converting those miscues into 22 points.
UCF (15-13, 6-10 Big 12) shot 43%, including 1 for 19 (5%) from 3-point range.
“Their defense was just very aggressive and to a certain extent, some of us were just unprepared for that aggressiveness,” said UCF guard DeMarr Langford Jr. “We went over it a lot in practice and film, but you could tell their defense startled us from the jump.”
Added Allen: “We’ve got to take care of the ball; that’s partly on me being the point guard of this team. We had a chance, but it came down to our execution offensively and getting stops down the stretch.”
UCF entered the game allowing 11.8 turnovers per game in the Big 12 but faced an Iowa State team that forced nearly 17 per game.
Saturday’s showdown was the popular Space Game, celebrating the school’s connections to NASA and the many space-related projects.
UCF built an 8-4 lead before Iowa State went on a 5-0 run to take a 9-8 lead with 13:58 left in the first half. The Cyclones didn’t relinquish the lead until 13:57 of the second half. From there, it was a back-andforth affair, with the teams trading the lead 9 times.
“We utilize our trap, both in the ball screen and then also in the post, and we do that just to try to throw their rhythm off and generate turnovers,” said ISU coach T.J. Otzelberger. “We felt like that was when we needed to be aggressive in the game. We tried to be the more aggressive team and score off our defense.”
“We have to play with more poise and composure, something I’ve talked about a lot this year,” Dawkins said. “You have to be able to do that against teams at that level.”
The Knights continued to pound the ball inside, finishing with 36 points in the paint, and leading the rebound battle 31-26.
Forward Ibrahima Diallo led the team with 6 rebounds, and Langford had 5 while guard Jaylin Sellers led all UCF scorers with 13 points.
UCF was coming off back-to-back wins for the first time in conference play after defeating Oklahoma State 77-71 on Wednesday. The victory over the Cowboys also guaranteed the Knights wouldn’t finish any worse than .500 this season.
The Knights have two games remaining before the start of the Big 12 Tournament (March 12), including a home game against No. 1 Houston on Wednesday before the regular-season finale at TCU on March 9.
While a spot in the NCAA tourney seems more unlikely after Saturday’s loss, UCF may have a better shot of making the National Invitational Tournament.
Last year, the NIT changed its selection process, with the tourney guaranteeing spots for the two highest-ranked teams (based on NET rankings) from each of the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC not to make the NCAA tourney.
That would mean UCF (66 NET ranking) and Cincinnati (45) if the Bearcats fail to make the NCAA tourney, or Kansas State (74) could qualify.
“We still believe we can make the postseason, but we know we must continue to get better as we come down the stretch,” said Dawkins.