Dec. 11, 2014
UCF Athletics Social Media Directory
By Dan Forcella
UCFKnights.com
Box Score (pdf) | Box Score (html) | Social Media Recap | Postgame Audio
CHICAGO (UCFKnights.com) - The UCF men's basketball team dropped its second straight road game, falling at the University of Illinois-Chicago by a score of 71-60 Thursday night. The Flames' Jay Harris led all scorers with a career high 32 points.
UIC set the tone early, scoring the first two buckets of the game en route to a 14-3 advantage less than five minutes in. Harris scored eight of the Flames' first 14 points.
Junior Daiquan Walker knocked down a three-pointer to spark a 7-0 run that tied the game at 20-20 with 6:41 to play in the first. Fellow junior Dylan Karell scored the other four points of the spurt, driving for two and hitting 2-of-2 from the charity stripe.
A driving layin from sophomore Brandon Goodwin and a thunderous alley oop slam by Karell from Goodwin gave the Knights a three-point lead, which they held until halftime. UCF went into the break up 30-27.
The Knights turned the ball over three times in the first 96 seconds of the second half, which led to six UIC points and a 33-30 lead for the Flames.
UCF tied it again on a three by freshman Adonys Henriquez, but UIC countered with a triple by Jake Wiegand and never gave up the lead again. The Flames led by as many as 13 late in the game before finishing up with the 71-60 victory.
HARRIS GOES OFF FOR CAREER NIGHT
- The Flames' guard scored a career high 32 points on 9-of-16 shooting from the field.
- He was able to get to the line at will, finishing the night 10-of-12 from the stripe.
- Harris had the deep ball going as well, knocking down 4-of-9 from beyond the arc.
KNIGHTS TURN IT OVER
- UCF turned the ball over 17 times on Thursday night, which led to 13 UIC points.
- It was the second most for the Knights on the season (22 vs. Georgia Southern).
- UCF has two games this season with single digit turnovers (9 vs. Stetson and Bethune-Cookman).
TAYLOR LEADS THE WAY
Coming off of an injury, leading scorer B.J. Taylor never got into a rhythm Thursday night, but he still finished with a team high 13 points. The freshman scored in double figures for the fourth time in six collegiate games. Taylor went 4-for-10 from the floor and 4-for-7 from the free throw line.
FLAMES OUTREBOUND KNIGHTS
- UCF was outrebounded 38-31 for the game.
- The Flames had a major advantage on the offensive glass, leading the category 12-6.
- UIC turned its 12 offensive rebounds into 13 second chance points.
- The Knights only managed five second chance points in the game.
POSTGAME AUDIO
Head Coach Donnie Jones
NEXT UP FOR THE KNIGHTS
UCF will have a quick turnaround. The Knights travel back to Orlando to take on Florida Atlantic on Saturday. The Knights and the Owls are scheduled to tip off at 8 p.m. from CFE Arena on ESPN3.