MEMPHIS, Tenn. (UCFKnights.com) – The UCF men's basketball team fell just short on the road at Memphis Sunday afternoon, as the Tigers defeated the Knights by a score of 70-65 at FedEx Forum.
"I was disappointed," head coach Johnny Dawkins said. "We had our chances, but came up a little short. We got sped up a little and played a bit out of character for a few plays and that's all it takes in a game like this."
Never having won at Memphis, the Knights (14-5, 5-2 AAC) were ready from the first whistle, scoring the first 10 points of the game to take the early lead. The Tigers (15-5, 5-2 AAC) fought right back with an 8-0 run and the back-and-forth battled continued until the final horn.
After B.J. Taylor connected on his fourth three-pointer of the game to give UCF a 49-46 lead with 8:59 to play, Memphis used a 10-0 run that included four straight free throws from Markel Crawford following both a personal and technical foul on Matt Williams.
The Tigers, then leading 56-49 with 7:33 on the clock, had all the momentum. The Knights never quit though. Taylor stole the ball on the next possession and found Tank Efianayi for a three to put a stop to the run. After another defensive stop, Tacko Fall grabbed an offensive rebound, was fouled while scoring in the paint and hit the free throw to cut the deficit to just one point.
UCF eventually tied the game at 59-59, but was never able to regain the lead, as the Tigers held on for the 70-65 home victory.
As has plagued the Knights all season, UCF turned the ball over 16 times, which led to 22 points for Memphis.
"Those are things we have to clean up," Dawkins said of the turnovers. "We know we have to get better in that area. We're working on it."
Taylor, Fall and Williams all scored in double figures for the Knights. Taylor led the way with 16 on 4-of-7 from beyond the arc, Fall recorded his eighth double-double of the season with 15 points and 13 rebounds, and Matt Williams chipped in with 10 points.
Brothers K.J. and Dedric Lawson led Memphis. The former scored 16 points and had eight rebounds, while the latter finished with 14 points and five boards.
UCF returns to action on Wednesday back at CFE Arena. The Knights host SMU (17-4, 7-1 AAC) at 6 p.m. on ESPNews.
"We have to get better," Dawkins said. "We need to approach our next game with a sense of urgency and execute a lot better than we did today."
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Photo by Joe Murphy