Jan. 18, 2012
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By John Denton
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - As the old cliché goes, losing hurts worse than winning feels good sometimes. So even though the UCF's men's basketball team has won 15-consecutive home games over the past 11 months, it's the one-point loss that preceded the streak that head coach Donnie Jones still remembers in vivid detail.
When Antonio Barton buried a 3-pointer with 2.6 seconds remaining last February, it wiped out UCF's best chance yet of beating Memphis for the first time in school history and lifted the Tigers to a come-from-behind 63-62 victory.
``I debated on whether to go man-to-man or zone on that final play,'' Jones said, recalling the play like it was yesterday. ``We wanted them to have to shoot one from deep and (Barton) just made a tough shot.''
That defeat hardened the Knights and they haven't lost at UCF Arena since last February. UCF won its last five home games last season and all 10 of its home games so far this season. Now, UCF wants to avenge last February's heartbreaking loss to Memphis and continue to delight a home crowd that should be raucous and rowdy tonight. The Knights (13-4 overall and 3-1 in Conference USA) and the Tigers (12-5 and 3-0) tip off at 8 p.m. in a nationally televised game on CBS College Sports Network.
``I am sure that there will be a great crowd. UCF has done a great job of coming out here and supporting us and having our backs,'' UCF senior point guard A.J. Rompza said. ``Since we are doing well, and the support has been there for us, I wouldn't expect anything else.''
UCF has knocked off the defending national champions, they have beaten two other teams that reached the NCAA Tournament last season and they started Conference USA play with three-consecutive victories. But beating Memphis - long the class of the conference - would go a long way in legitimizing this UCF squad as a true power player in C-USA.
Jones knows that a win against the Tigers would say a lot about the growth his program has made this season.
``They are a great measuring stick and show us where we want to get to,'' Jones said. ``They've been the lead dog in Conference USA and they are very talented again. (Memphis coach) Josh (Pastner) has done a good job with that talent and a lot of those freshmen are sophomores now. Coming in here it will be a great opportunity for us to play against a great team.''
UCF has shown so far that it could be ready to compete for a C-USA title with the way it has played so far. The Knights whipped Tulane and Houston at home and went on the road to beat East Carolina. The Knights lost by one point to Marshall on Saturday, but they impressed Jones with the way they hung together through some adversity.
``I like how our team stayed together. We knew there would be runs in the game and we had to battle back from behind and we did that,'' Jones said. ``We took the lead, we executed and we had an opportunity to win the game, but free throws didn't go down. We put ourselves in a position to win in a tough environment versus against one of the best teams in our league.''
Memphis could also be classified as one of the best teams in the league. The Tigers won the C-USA tournament last spring with one of the youngest teams in the country, and now that group is a year older.
But with sophomore guard Isaiah Sykes and Rompza playing extremely well, and Marcus Jordan and Keith Clanton poised for big bounce-back games, the Knights hope they can finish the job this time against Memphis and avoid the heartbreak they had to suffer through last February. Jones hopes that the Knights' winning ways at home will continue against Memphis, the last visiting team to win at UCF.
``We need the fans' energy to create a great environment when we're playing a great team like Memphis,'' Jones said. ``We've done a good job here at our place, playing pretty good. We feel comfortable here and have our fans and we just play at a higher level at home. Hopefully it'll continue against Memphis.''
John Denton's Knights Insider appears on UCFAthletics.com several times a week. E-mail John at jdenton@athletics.ucf.edu.