UCF basketball recap: UCF 75 - Marshall 58

CUSA Fans UCF Correspondent Ryan Westin brings the latest update on the UCF Golden Knights basketball team.

The Golden Knights had to get up earlier than normal on a Saturday morning, but that did not keep them from getting up early in the game as they ran away with a 75-58 victory on Saturday in Orlando. The Knights improved their chances of becoming a bubble team by improving to 18-6 on the season and they have matched the number of conference wins from last year with a 7-3 record in the league.

UCF's Tony Davis attempts a 3 pointer near the end of the first half as Marshall Head Coach Ron Jirsa looks on.

UCF was able to score and score often in the first half, hitting seven threes in the first stanza and nine for the day. This game was all about the first half and it was all Knights, as they went 10-of-10 from the stripe, 7-of-16 from downtown and shot 56 percent from the field to go into the locker room with a 45-26 advantage.

In the second half, Marshall came out with a lot of emotion but, could not really take that big of a chunk out of UCF's halftime lead as they were able to against the Knights in January.

Mike O'Donell shared the honors with Jermaine Taylor leading the Knights in scoring with 17 a piece. O' Donnell struggled at East Carolina on Wednesday night, but could not be contained by the Thundering Herd while hitting from everywhere on the court in the first half. O'Donnell, a transfer out of NC State, was 7-of-11 on the day and accumulated three baskets from beyond the arc. Taylor, who has come off the bench the entire season, matched his teammate's mark of threes as he leads the nation in scoring off the bench.

Keys to the Victory

• Hold your ground - UCF has been plagued by boasting a double-digit lead and has not been able to maintain it. For the second game in a row, the Knights have gotten out to a big advantage and have not looked back. UCF raced to a nineteen-point lead at the break and was able to keep up with Marshall's surge in the second half, not allowing the lead to drop below 12 points the rest of the way. UCF led by 22 with just under two minutes to go when Kirk Speraw called off the troops and did a line shift putting in his reserves to allow them to get some playing time.
• Contained #4 - UCF did not forget what happened when they played the Thundering Herd earlier this year as Markel Humphrey put up 25 points on the Knights back in January. I had the honor of sitting next to Markel Humphrey's father Mark this game, who made the trip down from Georgia. Humphrey was able to lead Marshall in scoring, but was not able to lead his team to a victory in front of pops as he was held to 13 points.

Josh Peppers passing the ball while being defended by Tre Whitted in the second half. Peppers scored 14 in the conference win over Marshall.

Interesting notes:
Markel Humphrey was recruited by two SEC schools (Ole Miss and Auburn) and turned them down to attend Marshall. The Marshall team went and saw the Orlando Magic beat the San Antonio Spurs last night. UCF's Chip Cartwright advised in the post game show that UCF Coach Speraw told his troops to get to bed early last night to be rested up for the Noon game.

Marshall looked to be tired and was not able to push the ball up the floor, allowing UCF to set up their defense all game long. UCF, on the other hand, was able to get into the stands themselves as they once again celebrated with those in attendance after the victory at the UCF Arena.

Where was everyone?
During his post game show, Coach Speraw stated that he was disappointed by the lack of attendance at the game today. I could not agree more with Speraw, who went on to say that a couple of years ago when UCF was in the Atlantic Sun conference he believed that once the Knights joined a major conference like C-USA that seats would be filled—especially when they are second in the conference. Today’s attendance was listed in the box score as 2338, but it did not appear to me that it was anymore than 1750 with the entire second level relatively empty. If the Knights can win the next two games on the road and reach the 20-win plateau, maybe it will wake up the ghost in Orlando.

Who's Next?
The Knights will now head to New Orleans to take on Tulane. The Green Wave are 4-6 in C-USA play and 11-11 overall following Saturday night’s blowout loss at conference leading and #10 Memphis. Tip-off is at 8 PM (EST). The Knights do not play again in Orlando until Southern Miss comes to town on February 21.