ANAHEIM, Calif. – After finding a way to win in the final moments of the last two games, the UCF men's basketball team wasn't able to put it all together on Thanksgiving night, falling 68-67 to Penn in the quarterfinals of the Paycom Wooden Legacy.
"I think they just made one more play than we made at the end of the day," UCF head coach Johnny Dawkins said. "I thought they executed well, showed a lot of poise and experience. I could see the difference with some of the things they did, especially in the second half. But I was proud of our guys, considering we didn't have a great shooting night, we still gave ourselves a chance to be in a game like this and had a chance to win."
Trailing by six points just over two minutes to play, freshmen Dre Fuller Jr. drew a foul and made 1-of-2 free throws. Freshman Darin Green Jr. then connected on a putback layup to cut the deficit to three, at 64-61, with 1:43 left on the clock.
After Penn countered with a layup, Green knocked down a 3-pointer from the wing bring UCF (3-2) within two points with 1:18 to play.
Senior Dazon Ingram then forced a turnover, one of a season-high 22 turnovers in the game by the Quakers (4-2), and called timeout while on the floor.
Fuller again forced a foul on the other end, but only made 1-of-2, again, to keep UCF trailing by one point, 66-65, with 34 seconds left. The Knights fouled and Penn's Devon Goodman made both from the stripe.
On UCF's next possession, there were multiple missed shots and multiple offensive rebounds, ultimately ending with a ball falling out of bounds, initially called in favor of the Quakers. After a review it was determined it was UCF ball with two seconds on the clock.
A perfectly executed out-of-bounds play, found Green barely open in the corner. He gathered himself. And fired, sinking a clutch three as the buzzer sounded to tie the game. Well, most thought it was a three.
He was behind at least one of the four 3-point lines on the court at the Anaheim Arena. Unfortunately for the Knights, he wasn't behind the one that counted on Thursday and the basket was ruled a 2-pointer.
Green finished with 11 points, one of three Knights in double figures.
Ingram scored 17 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and had five assists, all three season bests for the senior. It marked his first double-double as a Knight and the sixth in his career.
It was leading scorer Collin Smith, who UCF went to all night on offense though. The Knights big man had 22 points and a season-high 12 rebounds in the defeat, eclipsing 20 points for the second straight game.
UCF wasn't efficient enough from the floor, shooting just 32.4 percent from the field and 26.7 percent from 3-point range. The Knights stayed with the Quakers by forcing the aforementioned 22 turnovers and turning them into 21 points.
The Knights also outrebounded Penn 44-35 and grabbed 22 offensive boards. UCF outscored Penn 17-2 on second-chance points.
The Quakers were able to hang on thanks to 51 percent shooting from the field and 46 percent from beyond the arc, knocking down 11 threes.
The Knights will be back in action Friday night at the Wooden Legacy, playing the loser of Thursday's finale between Arizona and Pepperdine. The game is scheduled for 9 p.m. ET with coverage on the ESPN family of networks.
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