UCF basketball recap: Golden Knights garner huge road win over Owls

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

UCF was able to contain Morris Almond and pick up a crucial Conference USA victory on the road Saturday night as they defeated Rice, 74-63, at Autry Court in Houston. The Knights picked up their 19 th win on the year to improve to 19-7 on the season. The Knights come home Sunday after playing three of their last four games on the road, taking home a victory in three of their last four games.

Mike O'Donnell shoots a three in the second half as the Owls' Morris Almond defends. O'Donnell had 6 points in the game.

UCF allowed Morris Almond to tally 11 points in the first stanza. The second half was a different story as UCF did not allow Almond to score until garbage time with thirty seconds to go, when Almond picked up an easy lay-up. Almond was 3-13 from the field and was 1-4 from beyond the arc.

UCF was able to defend Almond like most teams can’t while essentially make him not a factor in the second half. Rice took advantage of the attention to Almond by penetrating to the basket with easy lay-ups in the second half for several Rice players. Lorenzo Williams led the Owls with 16 points.

The story of this game was UCF being able to take advantage of getting to the line often after the break as they made 17 of their 20 free throws in the second half and 24-of-31 on the night. They finished the night at 85.7 percent from the stripe. Rice’s intense defense in the second half was too intense according to the officials, as UCF was able to get into the bonus very early in the second half.

Let’s not get technical
With a little over nine minutes remaining in the game, Rice cut the Knights lead to five when Owls’ Rodney Foster was called for a foul. Rice head coach Willis Wilson argued the call and was popped with a technical foul. UCF’s Dave Noel capitalized on the four consecutive free throws and cooled off the Owls’ surge. Noel made 11-of-12 free throws, ten of which made up UCF’s next ten points following Wilson’s technical.

Lorenzo Williams made a lay-up for the Owls with a just less than eight minutes in regulation and was quickly whistled for a technical for an unknown situation after the basket. Dave Noel was right there again to make two more from the charity stripe. Rice basically took themselves out of the game with the two technicals, as they had gotten back into the game with nine to go, but proceeded to give the Knights easy points at the line.

UCF never looked back after the nine-point advantage and pushed the lead to 16 with less than two minutes to go as Owl fan pushed for the exits.

UCF is now 7-0 on the season in games played after losing the previous game.

Homecoming
Chip Cartwright, a native of Houston, had several family members and friends in attendance. He was able to make them proud by tallying 6 points, three steals and two assists in his twelve minutes on the court. Chip was also able to make crucial contributions that do not show up in the box score, as he was able to break the Owls’ full court pressure with ease.

Who’s Next?
The Knights now return home to take on Southern Miss on Wednesday night at the UCF Arena. Southern Miss comes to Orlando with a 6-5 record in C-USA and has a 16-8 record on the season. The Golden Eagles are led in scoring by guard Jeremy Wise, who is averaging 16.8 ppg. Southern Miss will be coming into the Wednesday’s game without much rest as they will play Houston at home on Monday night and then travel to Orlando. Southern Miss is coming off of a big road victory over East Carolina, as they defeated the Pirates, 80-42, last Wednesday night in Greenville.

UCF finishes the season with three of their last four games at the UCF Arena, including a match-up with Houston. The Cougars are currently one game ahead of UCF in the standings. Houston won the earlier match up, as they erased a 22-point deficit to defeat the Golden Knights in overtime.