April 13, 2006
ORLANDO - UCF men's basketball head coach Kirk Speraw announced on Thursday that Orlando native Stanley Billings has a signed a National Letter of Intent to play for the Golden Knights. Billings is a 6-foot-11, 225-pound center from Independence Community College in Kansas and will join UCF's program this fall.
An Orlando native, Billings was rated as the No. 20 junior college player in the nation by JUCOJunction.com this past season. As a sophomore in 2005-06, he averaged 13.9 points and 3.6 blocks per game. He shot 56.2 percent from the field last season and averaged nine rebounds, good for 22nd nationally.
Billings graduated from Oak Ridge High School in Orlando, where he did not play basketball, in 1996. Following high school, he spent eight years in the Marines as a chef. He started playing organized basketball while in the military. Billings was named to the All-Armed Forces First Team in 2004 after helping his squad to a third-place finish in the Armed Forces Championship.
"Rarely do we have the opportunity to attract a young man into our basketball program with the life experiences that Stanley has," said Speraw. "The discipline and toughness of being a Marine, combined with being a tremendous basketball player, is very unique. Stanley has great substance and character and we are looking forward to him joining our program."
This past season, Billings helped Independence to a 30-4 record. The Pirates finished the year ranked 10th nationally. Following the year, Billings earned National Junior College Athletic Association Region VI First Team honors for the second-consecutive year. He was also a second team All-Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference selection.
In the Region VI championship game against Coffeyville, Billings totaled 18 points, nine rebounds and five blocks. Billings is the third recruit to sign with UCF this year. Forwards Tony Davis of Sarasota, Fla. and Andre Thornton of Memphis, Tenn., both inked NLIs with the Golden Knights in the fall.
As a freshman in 2004-05, Billings earned first team all-league honors and was named the KJCCC Eastern Division Freshman of the Year. During his rookie campaign, he averaged 12.5 points, 9.6 rebounds and 3.6 blocks per contest.
This past season, UCF finished fifth in its first campaign in Conference USA. The Golden Knights went 7-7 in league play and 14-15 overall and closed the season by winning four of its last six games.
The top four teams in C-USA (Memphis, UAB, UTEP, Houston) combined to lose just three games in 2005-06 to the other eight league teams. UCF recorded two of the three victories, topping Houston and UTEP. Dating back to the start of the 2002-03 campaign, the Golden Knights have won 84 games, ranking second among all programs in Florida during that span.