DALLAS – The UCF men's basketball team dropped its third straight league game on Wednesday, falling on the road to SMU by a score of 81-74 in an American Athletic Conference contest at Moody Coliseum.
"I thought tonight we didn't defend as well (as we had recently)," UCF head coach Johnny Dawkins said after the game. "I thought our offense was good…good enough to win, but we just couldn't get stops. We caught them on a night where they hit everything."
Collin Smith, Ceasar DeJesus and Matt Milon scored 19 points apiece, but it was enough to combat the Mustangs' 54.2 percent shooting from the 3-point line. SMU knocked down 13-of-24 attempts from beyond the arc.
"He was aggressive," Dawkins said of Milon. "It's always good when you make shots. To see the ball go in a few times, there's nothing like that. He's been a confident shooter his entire career. Him seeing it go in reignited him."
SMU (12-2, 2-0) outrebounded the Knights (9-6, 0-3) by a count of 34-27 and had 12 second-chance points en route to the seven-point victory. The Mustangs had an impressive 21 assists on just 26 field goals.
Kendric Davis led SMU with 22 points and seven assists, going a perfect 3-of-3 from the 3-point line. Feron Hunt added 20 himself, with a team-high seven rebounds, while Isiaha Mike and Ethan Chargois chipped in with 11 points each.
"They hit some contested threes," Dawkins said of the opponent. "They're a very good 3-point shooting team. They got on a roll and they started knocking them down."
MIlon's 19 points were a season-high for the graduate transfer. He went 5-of-9 from beyond the arc and 7-of-12 from the field. DeJesus added a team-best five assists and was 6-of-6 from the line. Smith led all players in the game with eight rebounds.
UCF will next return home to host Cincinnati on Saturday. Tipoff between the Knights and Bearcats is scheduled for noon with coverage on ESPN2 and FM 96.9 The Game.
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