Davis lifts Knights to victory
UCF defeats Memphis despite injuries
All A.J. Davis could do was shrug and smile when asked about the frustrating string of injuries plaguing UCF’s lineup.
When the Knights played their home American Athletic Conference opener against Memphis on Wednesday night, they had no B.J. Taylor, no Chance McSpadden and no Aubrey Dawkins available in the lineup.
Turns out, that was no problem as UCF rolled past Memphis 65-56 before an announced crowd of 4,298 fans. The fans included Johnny Dawkins’ fellow Duke alum Grant Hill and UCF quarterback McKenzie Milton.
“Man, I don’t know if we’re unlucky,” Davis said with a smile. “It’s like wild stuff, too. A guy lands funny and he gets hurt. It’s just unlucky stuff but that’s part of the game.”
The UCF basketball team hasn’t had much luck, but it has something better in Davis, a reliable senior leader and utility player capable of filling any holes.
He led the Knights with 16 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and two steals. It was his second consecutive game with a double-double.
Spurred by Davis’ play, UCF (11-4 overall, 2-1 AAC) made a little history of its own, defeating Memphis (9-6 overall, 0-2 AAC) for the third consecutive time dating back to last season.
No other UCF basketball team in school history has been able to pull off that feat. The program has beaten the Tigers just four times in the past 23 meetings.
Memphis hasn’t started conference play 0-2 since the 2003-04 season under former coach John Calipari.
“I think that’s big time. We talked about that before. If you look at the overall record between Memphis and UCF, it’s not even close. That’s huge,” Davis said. “We want to leave our legacy here and we want to be a part of something big. I think that’s why we’re all here and that’s something we preach every day.”
Things got off to a slow and sloppy start, with the teams combining for fewer than 40 points and 17 turnovers with just over a minute of play before halftime.
Outside of Tacko Fall, no one was able to get much going for UCF’s offense. But as has often been the case for the Knights under Dawkins, the defense sparked some life into the relatively quiet arena.
Chad Brown grabbed down his fourth defensive rebound in the first half on a missed Memphis layup from Kareem Brewton. That set up the team’s first 3-pointer of the night courtesy of Djordjije Mumin and gave UCF some much needed momentum at halftime when it trailed 22-21.
After the Knights delivered their second lowest first half scoring output of the season, the team had a breakout second half and outscored the Tigers 44-34.
Dawkins switched to a smaller lineup featuring Ceasar DeJesus, Dayon Griffin, Terrell Allen, Brown and Davis pushing the tempo.
DeJesus and Griffin opened up the scoring, helping the team go on a 9-0 run early in the second half.
“If you can score 40-plus points in a half, then you know you have a strong enough offense,” Dawkins said. “I’m really happy to see our guys have a breakout offensive game in the second half.”
The Knights will host Temple Sunday at noon and it’s unclear if Taylor or McSpadden will be available to compete. Taylor is no longer wearing a boot on his left foot, but he is day-to-day, Dawkins said. McSpadden suffered a high ankle sprain at East Carolina and there is no timetable for his return yet either, but Dawkins expects him back this season.
“I wish B.J. could have been out here the whole season, I wish Aubrey could have been out here the whole season, I wish Tacko would have never gotten hurt, I wish Chance wasn’t hurt right now but that’s part of the game,” Davis said.
“There’s nothing we can do about it, but just [have] everybody else step up and focus on winning the game.”