ORLANDO—Just 48 hours after late-game play for the UCF men's basketball team didn't go the Knights' way in their one-point loss to Wichita State, it looked as if maybe another frustrating finish was in order Friday night.
Tulane's 10-0 run gave the Green Wave a 40-32 lead with 14 minutes remaining. But this time it was Johnny Dawkins' UCF squad that made all the right plays late at Addition Financial Arena.
The Knights parlayed a 10-0 run of their own to regain the lead—and then forced Tulane to miss its final seven shot attempts and nine of its final 10 field-goal attempts to enable UCF to post a 51-47 victory.
"Like Coach (Dawkins) says, when you fall down, you've got two choices—you can stay down or get back up. I think we're going to choose to get back up," said sophomore guard Darin Green Jr. who led UCF with 18 points, all on three-point shooting.
The game represented a makeup game for a contest originally set for Dec. 30 and postponed due to COVID.
Knight senior Darius Perry contributed 14 points to go with five assists. His team triumphed despite only two free-throw attempts (one made) all night.
UCF improved to 6-10 overall, 4-9 in American Athletic Conference action. Tulane (8-8, 3-8) tonight played its second of four straight road games.
Defense played a major role late for the Knights. Tulane managed only six second-half field goals (and only 19 total points) while shooting only 22.2 percent. UCF had seven blocked shots, four by C.J. Walker--two of his coming with the game hanging in the balance. The home team regained the lead for good on a Walker basket at the 3:49 mark as part of a 15-2 UCF run while Tulane was missing eight of nine shots.
"Our defense was really good in the second half, it was solid and we've really been preaching that," said Dawkins. "The last three games we've been holding opponents down, and that's UCF basketball. We've been defending like we want to, and everyone gave great effort tonight."
"It's all mental—you have to want it on defense. We talked about it at halftime. We came down and locked in and stopped them," added Green Jr.
The Knights played without 13.7-point scorer Brandon Mahan who sat out with a minor ankle problem.
UCF missed its first nine shots, as Tulane scored the game's first six points. The Knights came back to hit five straight attempts on a 13-3 run for an 18-12 advantage. Six of UCF's first nine buckets (and seven of 11 in the first half) were three-pointers on its way to a 24-16 lead. But Tulane's 8-0 run tied the game at 24 until Isaiah Adams' hoop ended nearly a six-minute scoring drought for the home team.
Green Jr. connected on five of his six long-distance attempts in the first half for 15 points. The Knights built a 24-10 rebounding advantage by intermission—but UCF also had 11 first-half turnovers (to two for the Green Wave).
Jordan Walker and Jaylen Forbes each had 14 points for Tulane, and Forbes added eight rebounds. UCF's 39-33 rebounding edge was paced by Adams' eight.
UCF returns to action Sunday for a third game in five days (the first time for that this season), this one at Cincinnati (1 p.m. EST on ESPN+). The Bearcats are 6-7 after a 71-69 Friday night home win against Temple. UCF's next home game is Wednesday versus South Florida (7 p.m. EST on ESPNU).
