ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) – Matt Williams' first ever game as a member of the UCF men's basketball program was a win at USF back in 2012. Last night he played his last ever regular season game as a Knight, winning at USF.
"This feels good," Williams said of defeating the Bulls to close out 2016-17 in style. "It's up there with the top games [in my career]. It feels good to get a win over our rivals."
The fifth-year senior made note of the significance of the opponent in his postgame interview. "This was my first game and this was my last game," he said.
When the Knights defeated USF 74-56 in a newly renovated Sun Dome to open the 2012-13 campaign, Williams was not able to play. He was recovering from an appendectomy that kept him out of the first five games of the season.
This time around, in the final regular season game of his career, Williams made his presence felt.
The Orlando native led the Knights with 20 points and knocked down three 3-pointers in the victory. His third of the night brought UCF back within two points with less than three minutes to play, igniting an 8-0 run that earned the Knights the three-point victory.
That three made history. With it Williams broke both UCF's single-season and career records for three-pointers. He passed Gary Johnson, who made 103 back in 2004-05, for the single-season mark, and broke the career record of Jermaine Taylor, who hit 251 from 2005-09.
After the game Williams was more concerned with moving forward.
"We're still hungry," he said. "We're going to celebrate this one, but tomorrow we'll get back to preparing, watching film and practicing to make sure we keep up our one-game mentality. That's what has been getting us through the whole season."
The Knights have enjoyed their best season since joining the American Athletic Conference and earned their first 20-win season since 2012-13. UCF is currently in fourth place in The American at 11-7 and will have a first round bye in next week's tournament.
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