Jan. 19, 2009
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - With one of the nation's premier offensive players in senior guard Jermaine Taylor (Tavares, Fla.) on the roster, the UCF coaching staff is not expecting sophomore guard Taylor Young (Orlando, Fla.) be one of the Knights' top scorers. Instead, head coach Kirk Speraw and his assistants are asking Young to take care of the ball and to give his all on the defensive end.
Through 17 games this season, Young has proved that he is up to the challenge. He currently paces Conference USA in assist/turnover ratio (3.00). In three league games, the starting shooting guard has dished out 12 assists without recording a turnover.
In UCF's 77-52 win at Rice Saturday, Young had five assists, four points and three rebounds in 24 minutes of action.
No one will confuse Young, who is also spending time at point guard, with Dave Noel and Mike O'Donnell. Both guards finished their careers a year ago and were the on and off the court leaders for the Knights for several years.
Young, who is in his third year in the program after redshirting in 2006-07, went head-to-head with Noel and O'Donnell for two campaigns while he was a member of UCF's scout team. He says that playing with and against the duo has helped him develop into one of the squad's most dependable players.
"I learned a ton from Mike and Dave," Young said. "They were both really mature individuals. They really cared about the game and worked hard every day. They were both great leaders and I learned a lot from them about basketball."
On the year, Young is averaging 3.6 points and 3.2 assists in 19.6 minutes of action.
Young and the Knights will open a three-game homestand Wednesday, hosting Southern Miss at 7 p.m. at the UCF Arena. Tickets are available at all Ticketmaster outlets and at Ticketmaster.com.
For the latest news on the Knights, log on to UCFAthletics.com - the official site for UCF varsity sports. The site, which also contains ticket and Golden Knights Club donor information, is also the home of UCF's new online apparel store. Also visit UCFPhotos.com, the exclusive fan source for UCF action sports pictures.
Notes: After a one week hiatus, the Kirk Speraw Radio Show powered by Advance Auto Parts is set to return to the airwaves Monday evening. Fans are invited to attend the program, which will air from 6-7 p.m., inside the UCF Arena main lobby... In C-USA games only, UCF leads the league in field-goal percentage (48.1)... Until Saturday, the 6-foot-4 Taylor paced the team in rebounds per game for the entire season. After grabbing 12 boards against Rice, junior forward Tony Davis (Sarasota, Fla.) is now the leader at 5.5 per game. Taylor is averaging 5.4 rebounds.