It’s all about Knights getting defensive to stop the skid
Despite UCF losing eight of its last 10 games, including three straight, Knights coach Johnny Dawkins still feels their best basketball is ahead of them.
“I believe in my team, and I’m never going to be a guy that doesn’t believe that we can’t win and be successful,” Dawkins said after the Knights fell to USF 82-75 on Wednesday night.
“I’ll never be in that position, and with this group definitely not.”
The problem is, time is running out for the Knights to turn things around.
UCF (15-12, 6-9 American Athletic Conference) has three games left in the regular season before the group travels to Fort Worth, Texas, next month for the conference tournament.
The Knights, who were once considered to be in serious contention for the NCAA Tournament, sit in seventh place in the conference and fell 19 spots in the NCAA NET rankings by losing to the Bulls (12-16, 5-10 AAC).
Dawkins wants his team to avoid looking ahead to what’s possible in March. The Knights travel to Tulsa on Sunday for a 5 p.m. tip on ESPNU.
“[We have to] diligently try to correct the mistakes we made moving forward,” Dawkins said. “It’s not going to be easy. No team is going to allow you just to do that, so you have to go out there and make that happen.”
He pointed to defense as one reason for the recent skid. USF shot nearly 53% from the floor and its 82 points tied for the fourthmost allowed by UCF.
The Knights began the season strong defensively, limiting opposing teams to 61 points in nonconference play. The season average of points allowed by the Knights has increased to nearly 67 since league competition began.
That’s because UCF has allowed 71 points on average in conference games, a 10-point increase compared to nonconference matchups.
“In the last two or three games, I don’t think we’ve executed our defensive game plan as well as we need to,” Dawkins said. “You’ve got to execute the game plan in order to be successful in any game.”
Because he’s previously seen his team hold opponents to fewer than 60 points — UCF is 10-0 when that happens — Dawkins believes the Knights can return to playing that standard of defense. “These aren’t things that they’re capable of doing,” he said. “We have to just keep teaching and keep pushing in that direction until it all clicks for our guys because we were doing it before, so we know we’re capable.
“We have to get back to it and get our continuity back. Once we figure it out, it will click for us.”