Feb. 15, 2009
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - After severely spraining his ankle versus Houston on Feb. 4, freshman guard A.J. Rompza (Chicago, Ill.) seemingly spent more time with UCF athletic trainer Andy Reber than he did with his teammates. The rehabilitation paid off Saturday evening when Rompza nailed the game-winning jumper with less than a second remaining to give the Knights a 74-72 victory over Tulsa at the UCF Arena.
Due to the injury, Rompza missed UCF's previous two games. He still traveled with the team to East Carolina and UTEP, putting in hours of work with Reber. While in El Paso this past Tuesday and Wednesday, Reber worked with Rompza on agility drills, trying to get the point guard prepared to face the Golden Hurricane.
After the win over Tulsa, which included a rally from a 17-point deficit midway through the second half, Rompza admitted that his ankle felt only 60 percent healed. Still, he credited Reber for getting him back on the floor for the Knights.
"He has put in a lot work," Rompza said. "I show a lot of gratitude to him and I appreciate the things he did. A lot of trainers would have just done some stuff, but he went the extra mile and did a lot more stuff with me to get me back sooner than later."
The ankle looked 100-percent healed after Rompza hit the game-winner. Once the ball went through the basket, the point guard ran to midcourt and jumped on top of the media table to celebrate.
Rompza did not start against Tulsa, but still logged 31 minutes. He finished with five points and three assists.
The Knights do not play on Wednesday, and will return to action Saturday at Houston. According to Rompza, the lack of a midweek game helped him during the game with the Golden Hurricane.
"We have a week off. I knew that if I played this one with everything I had and didn't worry about the ankle problem, I knew I had a week to rest and get it stronger than it is right now."
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: The contest with Tulsa was big for many reasons for senior guard Jermaine Taylor (Tavares, Fla.). In the first half, he became UCF's career scoring leader at the Division I level. The All-America candidate also sparked the Knights' comeback, scoring 22 of his game-high 35 points after intermission. Taylor now ranks fifth nationally in scoring at 25.0 points per game... Several former letterwinners, including Mike Clark, Calvin Lingelbach, Howard Porter and Bennie Shaw, attended Saturday's contest and were recognized at halftime... A more recent letterwinner, Dave Noel, also watched the Knights top Tulsa. Noel, who concluded his UCF career a year ago, currently plays for Reno in the National Basketball Association D-League. The guard has started 22 games for the Bighorns and is averaging 10.2 points. The D-League has a break in its schedule due to the NBA All-Star Game.