Dec. 3, 2005
GAINESVILLE - Despite a solid showing by the Golden Knights in the first half, 11th-ranked Florida was too much for the visiting UCF men's basketball team, posting an 80-47 victory at the O'Connell Center on Saturday afternoon. The loss snapped a nine-game regular season winning streak for UCF (4-1).
Florida led 36-23 at the break and started the second half with a 14-1 run and then eased to the win. The Golden Knights had five turnovers to begin the period and had only one point, a free throw by senior guard Justin Rose, in the first four-and-half minutes of the second half. By the time sophomore guard Mike O'Donnell finally ended the scoring drought with a jumper at the 15:30 mark, the Gators' advantage was 50-26.
Rose finished with a team-high 12 points. He was the only Golden Knight to post double-figures in scoring. O'Donnell totaled seven points and four boards.
UCF turned the ball over 19 times during the game and the Gators recorded 15 steals, with Corey Brewer registering five. The Golden Knights , who were playing on the road for the first time this season, attempted a season-low eight three-pointers, connecting on only two. The team shot 9-of-15 (60 percent) from the free-throw line, compared to 85.7 percent (12-of-14) for Florida.
"We have been struggling with our execution this season," said UCF head coach Kirk Speraw. "We have been working on it, but we still have a long way to go. Florida is an awfully good basketball team. We knew that it would be a tough task coming in here and that we would have to play exceptionally well to win. Obviously, we did not do that."
Brewer scored a game-high 25 points on 10-of-14 shooting from the floor for the Gators (7-0), who shot 52.5 percent overall for the contest. Al Horford added 17 points in the win.
With the hosts leading 20-8 with 8:27 on the clock in the opening period, O'Donnell helped the Golden Knights get back into the game. He began a 7-0 run, draining a three-pointer. UCF scored on its next two possessions, getting a pair of free throws from O'Donnell and a bucket inside from Rose to cut the lead to five, 20-15, with seven minutes on the clock.
UCF would remain in striking distance and trailed by only six with 3:38 left in the first half after junior forward Josh Peppers dunked on a backdoor lob from junior forward Lavell Payne. After a steal by Walter Hodge, Brewer then sparked an 11-3 Florida spurt to finish the half with a three-point play.
Brewer scored seven points during the run while UCF could only muster three points, a foul shot by Payne and two free throws by Peppers, in the last three-and-a-half minutes of the period.
Payne recorded six points and a career-best three blocks in the losing effort. Senior forward Marcus Johnson also tallied six points and grabbed a team-high six rebounds.
The Gators led by as many as 40 points in the second half. The hosts shot 58.1 percent from the floor in the period.
Joakim Noah scored 13 points for Florida, with nine coming in the first half. Brewer had a game-high seven boards and Taurean Green registered nine assists and seven points.
UCF was held to below 50 points for the first time since March 19, 2004, when Pittsburgh limited the Golden Knights to 44 points in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
After 10 days off for final exams, the Golden Knights return to action on Dec. 13, traveling south to face Florida Atlantic. Tip-off at FAU Gymnasium is slated for 7 p.m. The contest will be aired live on the UCF ISP Sports Network and its flagship station, WQTM - 740 THE TEAM AM.