Since the UCF men’s basketball team climbed into the national rankings, teams have been playing the No. 23 Knights with a different level of intensity.
Lately, the Knights haven’t been able to match it.
Southern Miss used a 21-2 run in the second half and erased a 4-point UCF lead to hand the Knights their second consecutive loss of the season, 86-69. UCF (14-2, 1-2 in Conference USA play) was knocked from the ranks of the undefeateds last Saturday at Houston. It’s the first time the Knights have lost back-to-back games since March 2, 2010 and it will almost assure the team will drop out of the top 25 rankings.
“It is not a one-game season,” UCF head coach Donnie Jones said in a release. “We are going to have to regroup and find our identity here. We have made strides (compared to last year), but we are finding out when we walk into places that people are playing us at a high level. This team is not used to playing at that next level that you need to play at.”
Trailing 36-35 at the half, UCF was able to take a 51-47 lead 13:23 off a P.J. Gaynor 3-pointer, but all went south from there. Southern Miss forced UCF into nine turnovers in the second half and went on an 21-2 run to take a 68-53 lead with 9:20 left in the game, taking the wind out of UCF.
Southern Miss was led by R.L. Horton, who scored 14 of his team-high 18 points in the second half. Marcus Jordan was held to just five points in the second half and the Knights were outscored 46-28 in the paint by the Golden Eagles.
The Knights turned the ball over 16 times in the game and Southern Miss scored 24 points off those turnovers. Maurice Bolden, Gary Flowers and D.J. Newbill chipped in 16, 16 and 17 points for the Golden Eagles, respectively.
UCF once again got out to a shaky start in the game.
After a Jordan 3-pointer gave UCF a 9-7 lead, the Golden Eagles reeled off seven unanswered points to take a 14-9 lead off a Maurice Bolden triple with 12:48 remaining in the first half. The Knights answered with a 7-0 run of their own fueled by four points from Tom Herzog and a Jordan long-range jumper that gave UCF a 16-14 lead with 11:32 left till halftime.
Both teams exchanged leads down the stretch, but a Southern Miss bucket with four seconds remaining gave them a 36-35 edge at halftime. UCF shot 42.9 percent in the first half but was outscored 16-12 in the paint.
Jordan led the Knights with 15 first-half points on 5-of-9 shooting while Bolden was the high man for the Golden Eagles with nine points.
