UCF Knights Win Game, Lose Millions Over Shoes

As we already reported would happen on KnightNews.com the day before UCF’s exhibition basketball game, Marcus Jordan wore Air Jordans by Nike on the court instead of the Adidas brand during his debut game Wednesday night.

UCF had a multi-million dollar sponsorship contract with Adidas, and company reps were quick to tell media that deal won’t continue because of Jordan’s decision to wear Nikes.

“The University of Central Florida has chosen not to deliver on their contractual commitment to adidas,” an adidas spokeswoman wrote in an e-mail to media. “As a result we have chosen not to continue our relationship with them moving forward.”

UCF Athletics responded with its own statement: ”We are disappointed to learn that Adidas has chosen to discontinue its relationship with UCF Athletics. Once we receive official notice we will be able to further respond.”

The UCF Knights now will have to look to hopefully find a new brand to sign a contract with in the near future.

Aside from the shoe controversy, the Knights got off to a good start in its exhibition game with St. Leo behind a strong second half as they cruised to an 85-64 win.

The high scorers included P.J. Gaynor with 18 points and A.J. Rompza with 16 points. Rompza also added 7 steals and 5 assists to lead the Knights to their exhibition win.

Freshman phenom Keith Clanton had 16 points on 7 of 9 shooting and 8 rebounds. He will be a force this year as he looks to dominate opponents big men throughout the season.

Player to Watch: Dave Diakite. Although he only added 9 points, he did grab 7 rebounds and looks to be an explosive player for the Knights. Last season was unfortunately cut short by injury, so if he can stay healthy he will hopefully explode on the scene this year.