No. 17 Shockers defeat Knights
WICHITA, Kan. — UCF couldn’t pull off a big road upset Thursday night.
Shaquille Morris scored 19 points to lead No. 17 Wichita State to an 81-62 win over UCF.
Morris, demoted from his starting spot, was 8 of 10 from the floor in 21 minutes.
Darral Willis had 12 points and nine rebounds as the Shockers (16-4, 6-2 American Athletic Conference) snapped a two-game losing streak.
Dayon Griffin scored 15 points to lead UCF (13-7, 4-4). B.J. Taylor added 12 points for the Knights.
After getting outrebounded 22-19 in the first half, Wichita State outrebounded UCF 29-16 in the second half.
Wichita State led 39-31 at halftime. Griffin had 10 points in the first half, more than his season average for a game.
UCF couldn’t steal an upset on the road but will now play two consecutive home games.
Wichita State avoided losing two straight games at Koch Arena for the first time since February 2011.
The Knights host UConn on Tuesday, while the Shockers host Tulsa on Sunday. gave SMU a 30-28 lead, its first since 8-5.
It was 40-36 SMU, when a drive by Adams led to a 3-point play that sparked the Huskie big run. UConn scored 10 straight points to take a 46-40 lead.
The Huskies outscored SMU 21-5 off turnovers, despite getting just one more giveaway (10-9).
The Huskies found out Thursday that they had lost their appeal to have forward Sidney Wilson declared eligible this season. The highly touted 6-foot-7 freshman transferred to UConn after briefly attending summer school at St. John's. Wilson will have four year's' of eligibility beginning next season and will be allowed to continue practicing with the team. UConn also played Thursday without Terry Larrier, who underwent surgery this week to repair a fractured sinus wall. The 6-8 swingman, who had been averaging just under 15 points a game, is expected to miss at least a week. The No. 20 Florida Gators got some unlikely help off the bench, but the Gators lost a back-and-forth 77-72 game against South Carolina late Wednesday night in the O’Connell Center.
entered the revenge game following a poor shooting performance against Kentucky Saturday night in Lexington, Ky., where he was 0 of 8 from the field for two points. Against the Gamecocks, who knocked the Gators out of the 2017 Elite Eight last season, Koulechov was 6 of 11 with 16 points and seven rebounds.
Koulechov said he was disappointed with the team’s hit-or-miss reaction in important games.
“After a big win, we continue to have a big drop,” Koulechov said. “We can’t be a roller-coaster team.”
UF coach stressed the importance of his team’s defensive efforts coming into the game. With three of Florida’s big men still out due to injuries, Dontay Bassett came off the bench for career highs in minutes (13) and points (9).