NEW ORLEANS (UCFKnights.com) – The UCF men's basketball team avenged an American Athletic Conference Tournament loss from a year ago and started league play 1-0 for the seventh time in the last eight seasons, defeating Tulane 85-72 at Devlin Fieldhouse Wednesday night.
"We found a way," UCF head coach Johnny Dawkins said after the game. "We talked about that a lot on this trip, and we just found a way to win tonight."
The Knights (10-3, 1-0 AAC) battled back after trailing 32-31 at halftime. The Green Wave (3-10, 0-1 AAC) took advantage of 12 UCF turnovers in the first half and outscored the Knights 8-0 on the fast break to hold the slight advantage at the break.
"I wasn't too pleased at halftime, so we discussed that," Dawkins said of his locker room chat. "I challenged our guys. I said 'we've been better than this all season. We can play better.' I challenged them to step up and start playing UCF basketball."
They did that, outscoring Tulane 54-40 in the final 20 minutes to leave New Orleans with the 13-point victory. Still trailing by one point three minutes into the second half, senior Matt Williams knocked down his first three-pointer of the game to put the Knights up 40-38 and UCF never looked back.
A 13-5 run, again ignited by a Williams three-pointer, gave the Knights a 75-59 lead with 3:55 to play, ultimately putting the game away. Williams scored nine of his 21 points – all in the second half – during the stretch.
"Matt was patient," Dawkins said. "Everyone is going to key on him. They're going to put their best perimeter defender on him and try to keep him out of the game. Matt did a good job of being patient with that."
THE THREE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS TO TAKE FROM WEDNESDAY'S WIN
Last year's leading scorer and rebounder A.J. Davis recorded first double-double of the season
- Davis, who missed the first five games of the season due to a hand injury, scored a season high 18 points and tied a season high with 11 rebounds.
- It marked the first double-double of the season for the junior, but it was the third of his career.
- Davis went 5-of-6 from the floor and 8-of-14 from the free throw line.
"[A.J.] slowed down and let the game come to him. He did a good job of getting us into our offense and he was really good at running our sets when they were trying to take some things away. He made a lot of good plays for us in the second half." – Johnny Dawkins
With Tacko Fall in foul trouble, Chad Brown stepped up with 12 points
Brown scored in double figures for just the third time in his career, but the second straight game. Following a 13-point night against Bethune-Cookman, Brown scored 12 points off the bench against the Green Wave.
Brown went a perfect 4-for-4 from the floor, shot 4-of-6 from the free throw line and added four rebounds in 23 minutes.
"I thought Chad was huge. He did a great job of coming in and stabilizing us. His minutes in the first half were huge for us and he really kept us in it." – Johnny Dawkins
Matt Williams scored all 21 of his points in the second half to lead UCF to victory
- Williams was 0-of-5 from the floor and 0-of-3 from beyond the arc in 18 first half minutes.
- The senior responded in the second, going 6-of-12 from the field and 5-of-11 from three-point range.
- Williams finished with 21 points, his fourth 20-point game of the season.
- His fourth three of the night gave him 200 for his career and with 201 he is third all-time in UCF history.
COMING UP NEXT
UCF will return home to host two straight American Athletic Conference contests at CFE Arena. The Knights take on Temple Dec. 31 at 4 p.m. on ESPNU before taking on East Carolina Jan. 3 at 7:15 p.m. on ESPNews.
GET THE APP
Never miss any UCF Knights news from your favorite team by downloading the free UCF Knights app right to your iOS or Android phone! The app provides personalized information for men's and women's teams, scores, schedules, loyalty programs and even breaking news.
PURCHASE TICKETS
Purchase season tickets for the 2016 UCF Men's Basketball campaign now. Call 407-UCF-1000 or click here to guarantee your seats for head coach Johnny Dawkins' first season with the Knights.