The Houston Cougars played a very good defensive basketball game as they allowed under 50 points for the eight time this season. UCF played a good defensive basketball game themselves, but it wasn’t enough as they allowed 55 points or more for the 10th time this season.
The Cougars had a good enough shooting night shooting 33.3% from 3-point range and 34.5% from the field. They had active hands on the defensive end as they had 11 steals and seven blocks. Houston’s LJ Cryer had 13 of his 16 points in the first half, allowing Houston to have a 28-14 advantage going into the second half. Ramon Walker Jr, a junior from Texas, checked in only in the second half and put up seven points and only missed one free throw the entire game off the bench.
The Knights headed into this one with momentum as they beat Texas a couple days prior but unfortunately couldn’t find the same success. They had a measly 14 points in the first half on 12.5% shooting. They ended the game with 15.9% shooting from the field and 19% from 3-point range, which are all the worst shooting splits in a game in Big 12 history. The Knights’ top scorer was Marchelus Avery who scored 10 points and only made one field goal; the other eight points came from free throws.
As a team, the Knights had only five assists and 15 turnovers which sums up the game as a whole as nothing went right for this team. In the coming weeks, UCF plays four ranked teams in a four week stretch. If they want a chance to win these games, they are going to have to figure out a way to create offense while at the same time improve their defense. Coach Dawkins is going to have to go back to the drawing board this week and prepare for their game against West Virginia.
This is definitely a game that the Knights want to forget as soon as they can and a game that the Cougars want to remember for the rest of the season.