Feb. 7, 2012
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By John Denton
UCFAthletics.com
ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - There's doing it all on the basketball court and then there's what UCF sophomore forward Isaiah Sykes accomplished last Saturday against SMU.
Twice, Sykes grabbed rebounds off the glass, dribbled the entire length of the court and finished tough layups in traffic. And not only did he pour in 15 points and grab eight rebounds, but he also took on the toughest defensive assignment of the day by guarding Robert Nyakundi, Conference USA's seventh-leading scorer. All Sykes did was hold him to two meaningless points in the second half of a 59-52 UCF victory.
No UCF player has improved more from last season to this one as Sykes has. But this particular performance, one of many this season for the blossoming sophomore, left even some of his closest admirers in awe of the way he dominated the game is several facets.
``He completely changed the game at SMU with his hustle, toughness and energy,'' UCF coach Donnie Jones marveled. ``And to have the kind of offensive effort with the defensive assignment guarding Nyakundi, he was quite impressive. He impacted the game in a lot of ways.''
UCF (17-6 overall and 6-3 in C-USA play) might need another do-everything game from Sykes when it hosts Marshall (14-9 and 5-4) Wednesday night at 7 p.m. at the UCF Arena. Marshall beat UCF 65-64 earlier in the season in a game that featured 13 lead changes and seven ties and the Knights need a victory to stay in near the top of the C-USA standings.
Sykes is well aware that next three weeks will likely decide UCF's postseason fate, but for now he said his only focus is on helping the Knights find a way to top their biggest rivals.
``Coach Jones just told us to take these games one at a time and that's what we're trying to do,'' Sykes said. ``We really can't afford to look ahead and we just have to prepare for the team in front of us.''
Sykes' preparation is likely centering around trying to figure out a way to slow down Marshall's DeAndre Kane (16.2 points per game) and Damier Pitts (13.4), who rank second and 13th respectively in C-USA in scoring. At 6-foot-5, a muscular 210 pounds and one of the strongest players on the team, Sykes usually draws the toughest defensive assignment - whether that opposing player is a shooting guard, small forward or power forward.
Jones feels that Sykes' toughness, hustle and muscle are contagious facets that spread throughout the team when they see the small forward bodying up to a bigger player or grabbing a tough rebound in traffic. Sykes said playing hard is his way of simultaneously helping out his team and breaking the will of the opponents.
``I think my teammates sometimes feed off my energy and try to match the intensity that I bring to games,'' Sykes said. ``That's when we come together as a team. When we're playing together and rebounding, that's when we're at our best.''
Sykes has made major leaps in almost every category this season, boosting his scoring average from 4.0 points a game as a freshman to 11.4 now as a sophomore. He's almost doubled his work on the boards, averaging 6.3 rebounds compared to 3.2 a season ago.
His play, especially last Saturday against SMU, has put UCF in a good position to make a run at a high seed in the C-USA tourney. Difficult road games against Southern Miss and Memphis are ahead, making Wednesday night's showdown against Marshall even more important for the Knights.
``We realize that this is when teams start to separate themselves. We played the first half of the (conference) season and we were 5-3 and now entering the second half we know this is when a team should make a move,'' Jones said. ``It's on us to take another step. Some take a step back because they get mentally and physically fatigued. But hopefully we've matured and we can show that we're ready for the grind as we go down the stretch.''
John Denton's Knights Insider appears on UCFAthletics.com several times a week. E-mail John at jdenton@athletics.ucf.edu.