Feb. 26, 2011
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By John Denton
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - After A.J. Rompza hit the shot that made the UCF Arena throb with raw emotion and after he was tossed in the air by his UCF teammates and after he had slapped hundreds of high fives and even signed an autograph, he was serenaded by close friend Marcus Jordan.
``Little man ... in a big man's world,'' Jordan playfully sang as he sat down next to UCF's 5-foot-9 Big Man on Campus Saturday night after the game.
Rompza, who had endured shooting slumps and a nagging injury to his foot all season, hit the biggest shot of his UCF career on Saturday when he buried a 23-foot 3-pointer in the final seconds to lift the Knights to a 65-64 defeat of Southern Miss.
Trailing 64-62 with 11 seconds to play, Jordan rebounded a missed free throw and pushed the ball in transition. He made an attempt to drive for the tie, but when he was cut off he found Rompza, who drained the go-ahead shot with 3.8 seconds remaining.
``I kept telling myself if I got the ball that I was going to knock down the shot,'' Rompza said. ``I knew what I was going to do when I got it. Marcus made a great play. I think we were going for a two, but I didn't hear coach. It's a shot if I make it we win the game, and if I miss it I get yelled at.'' When Rompza made it and Southern Miss' R.L. Hornton missed a midcourt heave, UCF (18-9 overall and 5-9 in Conference USA play) had its fourth win in the past five games. This week alone, UCF knocked both UTEP and Southern Miss (21-7 and 9-5) out of first place in the C-USA race.
``It was nice to finally come out on the other end of that for the first time,'' UCF coach Donnie Jones said, referring to a buzzer-beating loss to Memphis back on Feb. 9. ``It was a big shot by A.J. Rompza, but the thing that I was the most proud of was the way our guys continued to fight. We had a couple of times there when we could have tucked our heads and they made some great runs and that's a terrific basketball team that we just played, but the shot went in for us.''
Jordan had 20 points, six rebounds and three assists. Senior forward A.J. Tyler had his biggest game of the season with 14 points and four 3-pointers to burn Southern Miss' collapsing defense. Jordan and Tyler were effective throughout the second half on pick-and-roll plays, and Jordan admitted afterward that he initially wanted to be the hero on the final play with Rompza.
``I didn't want to pass it to him,'' Jordan said with a chuckle. ``Coach said if we get the rebound to push it and go for the two. But I drove and had like three guys on me and Rompza was in no man's land and he knocked down the shot.''
The 160-pound Rompza barely got a glimpse of the line-drive-of-a-shot going through the net because he was knocked out of bounds upon releasing the shot. This shot, Rompza said, was more significant than the running game-winner he made as a freshman against Tulsa.
``I kind of heard everyone screaming and I guessed it went in,'' said Rompza, who jumped up on the courtside table to exhort the crowd of 7,402 after the final horn. ``When I was falling back I saw it go in. I remember (the shot) being deep and everybody rushing me.''
UCF's final home game of the regular season is Wednesday night against SMU. The two teams have not played this season, but UCF beat SMU in the first round of the Conference USA tournament last year in Tulsa, Okla.
The Knights close the regular season on Saturday at Marshall in what will be Jones' first return to the school where he coached for four seasons prior to taking over at UCF. The hope is that a UCF team that won its first 14 games, dropped eight in a row in the middle of the season and has strung together a strong closing kick, can keep it up and get to the postseason. ``(The strong finish) says a lot. When we were losing games, I said that we were getting better and I know that sometimes that doesn't make sense when you don't win. You have to focus on the positives and I see where our team was at the beginning of the year and right now we're much better,'' Jones said. ``We've had seven Top 100 wins and (Southern Miss) is another Top 40 RPI team. So that puts us in a position to continue (pursuing) postseason play and it helps our resume. That's all we can do. I always say that people remember how you start and how you finish and what's happened in the middle is over with. There are two more games and then we'll have a chance in the conference tournament.''
Finally over the stress reaction injury in his foot that robbed him of his explosiveness off the dribble, Rompza has picked up his play. He had 15 points and three 3-pointers last week at UAB and nine points and two threes on Monday at UTEP. His game-winner on Saturday was his only basket of the game, but he did contribute five assists and four rebounds.
``I've gone through a lot of stuff and I always talk to Marcus and my mom. It's been up and down for me with the injury and things not going my way,'' Rompza said. ``The most important woman in my life is my mom and I continued to talk to her. She told me to fight through things and stay strong. And Marcus is my best friend and they both know what I've been going through. But just to have this (shot) on my side right now, it's huge for me.''
John Denton's Knights Insider appears on UCFAthletics.com several times a week. E-mail John at jdenton@athletics.ucf.edu.