ORLANDO – The UCF men's basketball team came into Thursday's game against Wichita State having won back-to-back league contests but couldn't make it three in a row as the Shockers left Orlando with a 75-58 American Athletic Conference victory.
"I'm very disappointed with how we performed," UCF head coach Johnny Dawkins said. "I thought we would play better tonight. It's just disappointing."
Wichita State (18-6, 6-5), which came into the game on a three-game losing skid, got out of its funk early and never looked back. The Shockers led by as many as 20 points in the first half and held a 33-20 advantage at the break.
The Knights (13-11, 4-8) fought back early in the second half, cutting the deficit to 10 points, but couldn't get any closer than that. Wichita increased its lead to 20 again in the second, before cruising to the 17-point victory.
The Shockers shot nearly 50 percent from the field, going 30-of-62 (48.4%) from the floor, and held the Knights to just 31.7 percent shooting. After a pair of hot-shooting games from the outside, UCF went just 7-for-25 (28.0%) from beyond the arc on Thursday.
"We settled for shots. We didn't move the basketball," Dawkins said. "In the game there, at least we did that, offensively. We moved it. We shared it. Here, we were taking quick threes. That's not who we are. We need to make sure we understand that."
Wichita State's Erik Stevenson, who had only scored in double figures once in the last seven games, erupted for 27 points, 17 of which came in the first half, on 11-of-21 shooting and 5-of-12 from 3-point range. Stevenson added eight rebounds and five assists in the win.
"We left shooters. We weren't up on shooters," Dawkins said. "These were things we discussed, game-planned for. Give the kid credit. He made some tough shots, but I was disappointed we weren't in his face a little bit more."
The Shockers outrebounded the Knights 47-30 as a team, grabbing 11 offensive boards and outscoring UCF 26-16 in the paint.
UCF was led offensively by Matt Milon, Darin Green Jr. and Collin Smith. Milon and Green had 13 points each, while Smith had 12 in the defeat.
The Knights only turned the ball over eight times, but also had just 10 assists on 20 made field goals.
Wichita State now leads UCF 5-0 in the all-time series between the two teams.
UCF will now get set to head back on the road. The Knights take on Cincinnati next Wednesday at Fifth Third Arena. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. with coverage on ESPNU and FM 96.9 The Game.
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