March 10, 2008
IRVING, Texas (www.ucfathletics.com) - After helping lead the UCF men's basketball team to a top-four finish in the league, junior guard Jermaine Taylor (Tavares, Fla./Tavares) was selected to the All-Conference USA Second Team, the conference office announced on Monday. Taylor ranks fourth in C-USA in scoring, averaging 20.7 points per game in 2007-08.
This year, Taylor has totaled 621 points, the most by a UCF player since the school joined the Division I ranks in 1984. That mark also ranks sixth on the program's single-season scoring register.
In C-USA play, he averaged 21.4 points.
Taylor helped the Knights (16-14) to a 9-7 mark in league games. With its fourth-place showing in the regular-season, UCF garnered a first-round bye at the C-USA Championship in Memphis, Tenn. The squad will open the event on Thursday with a quarterfinal matchup against No. 5 Southern Miss or No. 12 Rice.
The league's 12 head coaches and media members from each conference market selected the All-C-USA squads.
During the regular season, Taylor paced UCF in scoring in 23 of the team's 30 contests and scored at least 20 points on 19 occasions. Taylor recorded four 30-point performances, including three against league opponents.
He garnered a pair of C-USA Player of the Week honors during the year, becoming the first Knight to receive two weekly conference honors during the same campaign since the 1998-99 season.
Taylor is among the C-USA leaders in free-throw percentage (79.7, ninth), 3-point field goals made per contest (2.4, seventh) and minutes per game (33.3, 10th). He has connected on 73 triples this year, which ranks eighth at UCF. His minutes total (1,000) is good for fourth on program's single-season list.
Taylor is the second Knight to garner all-conference honors since the program joined C-USA prior to the 2005-06 campaign. A year ago, Josh Peppers was a second-team selection.
Facing the toughest non-league schedule in program history, Taylor averaged 19.9 points before UCF entered C-USA play. The Knights met a pair of nationally-ranked teams in November at the Old Spice Classic, facing No. 18 Kansas State and No. 19 Villanova. Three other squads that UCF played - Nevada, Ole Miss and Sam Houston State - were all garnering votes in national polls when meeting the Knights.
In just his third campaign in Orlando, Taylor ranks 13th all-time at UCF with 1,146 points. On Feb. 6 against Marshall at home, he totaled a career-high 34 points and in the process, became just the 14th 1,000-point scorer in program history.
In each of its three seasons in C-USA, UCF has posted top-five league finishes.
On Thursday, UCF's quarterfinal contest will begin at 9:30 p.m. EST and will be aired live regionally on CSS.
For the latest news and information on the Knights, tickets or apparel, log on to www.ucfathletics.com - the official site for UCF varsity sports. Also check out www.ucfphotos.com, the exclusive fan source for UCF action sports pictures.
2007-08 ALL-CONFERENCE USA FIRST TEAM
Chris Douglas-Roberts, Memphis
Stefon Jackson, UTEP
Robert McKiver, Houston
Derrick Rose, Memphis
Robert Vaden, UAB
2007-08 ALL-CONFERENCE USA SECOND TEAM
Joey Dorsey, Memphis
David Gomez, Tulane
Jermaine Taylor, UCF
Ben Uzoh, Tulsa
Jeremy Wise, Southern Miss
2007-08 ALL-CONFERENCE USA THIRD TEAM
Dion Dowell, Houston
Robert Dozier, Memphis
Markel Humphrey, Marshall
Jon Killen, SMU
Lawrence Kinnard, UAB