HARTFORD, Conn. (UCFKnights.com) – The UCF men's basketball team's run in the American Athletic Conference Championship came to an end Saturday afternoon, as the Knights fells to top seeded SMU 70-59 in the semifinals.
"I thought it was a hard-fought game," UCF head coach Johnny Dawkins said. "We lost to a good team. They're the champion in our league for good reason. I thought they made a lot of big plays when they had to. They defended very well also. They're a very good team. They played well tonight."
No. 12 SMU (29-4) took the lead in the final two minutes of the first half and never relinquished it en route to the 11-point victory. The Mustangs, who defeated the Knights by five points during the regular season, advanced to the championship game against Cincinnati.
The Knights (21-11) failed to make the title game, but reached the conference semifinals for the first time as a member of the American Athletic Conference. UCF will now wait to find out its postseason fate Sunday night.
Sophomore B.J. Taylor led UCF once again with 20 points on 4-of-9 from beyond the arc. The Second Team All-American Athletic Conference honoree scored 20 or more points for the eighth time this season. After the game he was very appreciative of his senior teammates.
"I just want to thank the seniors, Matt (Williams), Nick (Banyard), and Tank (Efianayi), for everything they've done for the program," Taylor said. "I mean, they were the leaders of it. They set a great foundation and established a great culture for it's going to be in the future. I can't thank them enough for what they've done for our team this year."
Nick Banyard, who came into Saturday's game shooting 47 percent from three-point range, went 4-for-6 from beyond the arc. He finished with 16 points, his third highest scoring output of the season.
"I definitely think we improved as a team and as people on and off the court," Banyard said. "Looking back at the beginning of the year, this team now, we definitely would be able to beat the team that we started with. That's always a positive. That's how you want to look at it. We definitely grew as people, matured and definitely will help us later on in life."
After leading the nation in field goal percentage defense the entire year at 36.0 percent, the Knights allowed the Mustangs to shoot 45.7 percent from the floor and 43.5 percent from three-point range. SMU was also able to dominate UCF on the boards, outrebounding the Knights 30-22. UCF came into the game ranked second in that nation with 41.9 rebounds per game.
Sterling Brown led SMU with 22 points, AAC Player of the Year Semi Ojeleye had 17 and Shake Milton chipped in with 16. All three were all-conference players following the regular season.
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