HARTFORD, Conn. (UCFKnights.com) – The UCF men's basketball team had only defeated Memphis once in 21 attempts prior to this season. With head coach Johnny Dawkins at the helm, the Knights have defeated the Tigers twice in as many meetings, including Friday night's dominating 84-54 victory in the American Athletic Conference Quarterfinals.
"I thought we played one of our best games of the year to be quite frank," Dawkins said. "From start to finish, I thought we defended. We've hung our hat there all year long, and I thought our guys really focused throughout most of the game and had a great defensive effort."
UCF (21-10) advanced to The American semifinals for the first time in program history and will face top seeded SMU Saturday at 3 p.m. at the XL Center. It marks the first time the Knights have reached a conference semifinal since 2012, when UCF lost to eventual Conference USA Champion Memphis.
After splitting the regular season series, the Tigers (19-13) had no answer for the Knights on either end of the court in the rubber match. UCF shot 54.4 percent from the floor and went 14-of-26 (53.8%) from three-point range, while holding Memphis to just 31.7 percent from the field and a paltry 23.5 percent from long distance.
UCF took the advantage thanks to an 18-0 run midway through the first half. Matt Williams scored nine points in a row by himself, knocking down three of his five three-pointers in a span of one minute and 16 seconds to put the Knights in front.
"During the middle portion of the game we were able to open up a lead after our guys made a lot of connecting plays," Dawkins said. "They played well together. They shared the basketball and we're fortunate to get the win."
The Knights extended their lead to as many as 21 points before taking a 43-26 advantage in the locker room. UCF was able to outscore the Tigers by 17 in the first 20 minutes with Defensive Player of the Year Tacko Fall playing just three minutes due to foul trouble.
"We play defense collectively. We have a group of guys, who hang our hats on defense. We don't really worry about offense the much. When Tacko went down, we just look at it as 'next man-up' and keep going with our defense."
The second half was not much different as UCF slowly but surely extended its lead until the benches cleared with about three minutes remaining. The Knights cruised to the 84-54 victory.
Williams led all scorers with 19 points and set a new UCF record with five threes, the most for a Knight in an American Tournament game. B.J. Taylor added 14 points and five assists, while A.J. Davis and Tank Efianayi chipped in with 12 apiece.
"We hang our hat on defense," Taylor said. "They got some points early, but then we locked in on our defense. That's where we get all our momentum from. That's where we hang our hat. As long as we get stops, we know we're going to be in ball games."
Fall, who played 13 second half minutes, led all players with 11 rebounds, marking his 15th double figures rebound game of the season.
Saturday's semifinal against SMU is scheduled for 3 p.m. A win would put the Knights into a conference title game for the first time since winning the 2005 Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament.
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