Oct. 17, 2011
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By Doug Richards
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - UCF head coach Donnie Jones knew that the benefits of his team's August trip to Canada would pay off once official practices began in October. After a busy weekend in which his team had four practices, Jones is already seeing dividends from the summer tour.
On Sunday, the Knights had their first intrasquad scrimmage of the preseason, playing four eight-minute quarters. Jones, who is in his second year at UCF, usually waits until the second or third week of practice to have his team play in organized, game-like situations. Thanks to the three games in Canada, and the 10 practices that the Knights had before leaving Orlando, his squad is ahead of schedule.
"We are definitely ahead of where we were a year ago," Jones said. "We usually wait until later to scrimmage, but with the extra time that we had on the court over the summer, we were ready to move ahead. We had four practices this weekend, and I was very pleased with the effort and intensity that our guys exhibited."
The Knights participated in their first practice of the campaign Friday, and then headed to the UCF Arena for UKNIGHT Madness. UCF practiced twice on Saturday before returning to the UCF Practice Facility for Sunday's officiated scrimmage.
Jones says the Knights will continue to make progress as the Nov. 12 season opener gets closer.
"That is why we are out here, to get better each day," he said of his team's practices. "The Canada trip allowed our freshmen and the transfers to get a head start. That is why we were able to scrimmage so early. We are not having to stop practice much to go over our system. It is good to be ahead of schedule."