Dec. 28, 2011
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By John Denton
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - As the final days of 2011 fade away and 2012 approaches, we here at UCFAthletics.com want to look back at the best moments of the past year and honor arguably the most significant 12 months in school history.
No. 10 Moment
No. 9 Moment
No. 8 Moment
No. 7 Moment
No. 6 Moment
No. 5 Moment
Here is a breakdown of the No. 4 moment of 2011 for UCF Athletics in 2011:
MOMENT: Men's basketball defeats defending national champion Connecticut
DATES: Nov. 25
SITE: Paradise Island, Bahamas; inaugural Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament
SIGNIFICANCE: Not only did UCF notch a victory against the highest-ranked foe ever - No. 4 in this instance - but it also knocked off the defending national champions in the process. And UCF's 68-63 victory ended a UConn 16-game winning streak that was the longest in the country at the time.
WHAT HAPPENED: Following a close, back-and-forth first half, UConn seemed poised to pull away by taking a 50-33 lead with 16 minutes to play. But UCF showed tremendous fight by scoring 17 of the game's next 19 points. Then, UCF guard Marcus Jordan had a layup and four free throws to give UCF a 58-57 lead with 3:11 to play. From there, Isaiah Sykes converted two tough layups in traffic to put the Knights up by five and set the stage for the historic upset. Jordan added seven rebounds and seven assists, while fellow junior Keith Clanton finished with 20 points. UCF, which also defeated College of Charleston in the tournament, finished as the runners-up after falling to Harvard a night later.
THEY SAID IT: ``I think this just shows that we can compete with anybody, compete with any team in the country,'' Clanton said. ``I just feel like even against the big-name schools, we can compete with them and go out and play them really hard. ... This shows how our team is and that we don't give up anymore. Last year, I feel like when we got down sometimes we would have just given up and it would have turned into a 20-point game. Now, we're fighting and playing harder with more intensity. And that's a great sign for us.''