ORLANDO—South Florida hasn't won a basketball game in five and a half weeks, and UCF made certain that streak continued in the War on I-4 Wednesday night at Addition Financial Arena.
The Knights made effective use of a nifty second-half shooting performance (54.2%) to run out to a 19-point lead with eight minutes left in the game and then coast to a final 81-65 margin. Meanwhile the UCF defense held the visiting Bulls to 31.7% shooting from the field.
"Our guys came really prepared and ready to compete. We dug in, got a few extra stops and built a lead and that was exciting to see," said UCF coach Johnny Dawkins. "What I really liked was that we were able to sustain it and continue to build that lead. We had a good idea what we wanted to do with our game plan."
Sophomore C.J. Walker paced the Knights with 18 points (tying his career high), connecting on seven of his first eight shots, to go with a team-high nine rebounds. Darin Green Jr. and Darius Perry had 14 points each, while Isaiah Adams had 11.
UCF ran off nine straight points, knocking down five of seven shots (while South Florida was missing four in a row) to make it 61-46 on a Perry three with 11:57 to go. A later 6-0 Knight run came at the same time South Florida was missing nine of 11 field-goal attempts.
"Wins are always fun, and tonight we played well collectively as a team. We know it's the little things," said Walker. "The little things make a big difference. We don't get discouraged losing by one or two—we've just got to have a couple more stops or a couple more rebounds and then those losses become wins."
UCF, 7-11 overall and 5-10 in American Athletic Conference play, is now 5-3 at home. The Knights enjoyed a comparatively comfortable cushion most of the night after having their last three games decided by four points or less.
South Florida (7-8, 3-6) was playing its first road game since winning Jan. 9 at East Carolina—also the last time South Florida won a game. The Bulls had seven straight games postponed from Jan. 14 through Feb. 6 and now have returned to lose consecutive outings versus Houston, Tulane and UCF.
South Florida junior forward Alexis Yetna had 16 points and 15 rebounds. Top Bulls' season scorer David Collins added 13 (he had 19 versus the Knights last month).
South Florida now has not won against UCF in Orlando since 2014. The Bulls tonight began a four-game road swing, their first in 24 years.
The Knights led by as many as 11 points multiple times in the first half, including a 6-0 scoring run to a 33-22 advantage. Walker set the pace by getting eight of his points (he had 12 by halftime) in the first eight minutes of the contest. South Florida missed 11 of its last 12 shots to finish out the first period as the Knights limited the visitors to 31% shooting over those 20 minutes.
South Florida played without 7-0 junior center Michael Durr, the Bulls' leading rebounder (7.7) who had nine points and 11 rebounds when the teams met in December.
The end result was a reverse of the 68-61 South Florida victory over UCF Jan. 2 in Tampa. This one was Dawkins' 90th win at UCF.
New UCF football coach Gus Malzahn was on hand at the game and was introduced at a first-half timeout. He spoke briefly, received a warm welcome and also introduced his new defensive coordinator, Travis Williams.
UCF returns to action Saturday with a road trip to play at Tulane (2 p.m. EST on ESPNU).
