March 10, 2011
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By John Denton
UCFAthletics.com
EL PASO, Texas. (UCFathletics.com) - Unable to get much going at all offensively and showing signs of rust after being off the past seven days, UCF trails UAB 27-12 at halftime in quarterfinal play of the Conference USA Championship.
The second-seeded Knights had a first-round bye for the first time in six years of playing in the C-USA tourney. UCF beat UAB twice during the regular season -- 53-50 in Birmingham, Ala. on Feb. 24 and 65-55 at UCF on Jan. 13.
UCF actually led 7-2 early in the game and seemed ready to build a big lead.
UCF led 9-8 midway through the first half on a steal and layup by senior forward D'Nay Daniels. But from there, UCF struggled on both ends of the floor and a 15-1 burst by UAB put the Knights behind 23-10. Daniels' bank shot with 2:41 to play in the half ended the drought for UCF.
UCF made just five of 24 shots in the first half and missed all five of its 3-point attempts.
UCF senior guard Chelsie Wiley, UCF's leading scorer on the season at 14.2 points per game, missed all seven of her shots in the first half and has yet to score. Daniels, who averaged 14 points during the regular season, has six first-half points on three of seven shooting.
UCF went 12-4 in C-USA play this season, its best record since entering the league six years ago. The Knights won their last eight regular-season games - the longest winning streak since a nine-game run during the 2003-04 season.
The Knights biggest rally in a victory this season came on Feb. 17 against Tulane. The Knights rallied from 10 points back with 7:28 to play and won in overtime.
The winner of Thursday's game plays the winner of the Rice-Memphis game on Friday at 11 a.m. ET.
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John Denton's Knights Insider appears on UCFathletics.com several times a week. E-mail John at jdenton@athletics.ucf.edu.