April 8, 2008
ORLANDO, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) - During the summer of 2005, a former UCF men's basketball great and a future star for the Knights played on the same team in a local amateur league in Lake County. If spectators noticed similarities in the talents of the two players, there was good reason.
Darryl Davis, who starred for UCF from 1991-95, was playing with his cousin, guard Jermaine Taylor (Tavares, Fla./Tavares). Taylor, an All-Conference USA Second Team selection this past season, just concluded his junior campaign with the Knights.
Taylor noticed during the summer league games that his skill-set was comparable to the one belonging to Davis, who also played on the perimeter while with the Knights.
"He was kind of like the same player I am," said Taylor. "He could score and rebound. He could still shoot and pass. He was the same as I remember."
Davis, who is fifth all-time at the school in scoring with 1,540 points, will be inducted into the UCF Athletics Hall of Fame on Friday. One of only three players in UCF history with 1,500 points and 500 rebounds, he helped the Knights to their first appearance in the Division I NCAA Tournament in 1994.
Joe Dean recruited Davis to Orlando. Davis played under Dean for a pair of years and also spent two seasons with Kirk Speraw as his head coach.
UCF assistant coach Dwight Evans mentored Davis during his time with the Knights and feels that his induction into the hall of fame is well deserved.
"Darryl was a competitor. He was a very good shooter," said Evans. "He was a team leader and captain... a very unselfish player."
In 2007-08, Taylor averaged a team-high 20.8 points. He totaled 646 points, the most scored by a Knight since the program joined the Division I ranks in 1984.
In three campaigns at UCF, Taylor ranks 13th all-time with 1,171 points. This past season, he often wowed the crowd at the new UCF Arena with an array of dunks.
Evans agrees with Taylor that the current UCF star's game is very similar to that of his cousin.
"Darryl was kind of like Jermaine, just not as athletic. There were lots of similarities in their games," said Evans. "Darryl just wasn't as athletic, but that was probably because of the injury."
Davis redshirted during the 1990-91 campaign due to a hip injury.
The UCF Athletics Hall of Fame ceremony will take place Friday in the J. Rolfe Davis Recruiting Room at Bright House Networks Stadium. To purchase tickets for the event, contact Misty Knight in the Golden Knights Club at (407) 882-1289 or mknight@athletics.ucf.edu.
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