Coming off a loss against then-ranked No. 24 Florida State in Tallahassee on Monday, the UCF men’s basketball team will look to get back on track against High Point University from the Big South Conference.
The Knights had trouble dealing with the size of Florida State in the 73-50 loss. Senior forward Bernard James, a 6’10’’ 26-year-old from Georgia, led the Seminoles with a game-high 18 points and 11 rebounds.
Senior center Xavier Gibson, who is also 6’10’’, added 12 points and seven rebounds for the Seminoles, adding to FSU’s 38 points in the paint.
It was also a struggle on the offensive end for UCF. They were unable to get in the paint and settled for 30 long-range shots, while only connecting on six of them. UCF shot a total of 18-for-59 from the floor.
Preseason All-Conference First Team forward Keith Clanton played limited minutes in the second half due to foul trouble, and finished with 11 points and six rebounds. UCF shooting guard Marcus Jordan returned to the floor after serving his team suspension and finished with 11 points and three steals.
The contest against High Point will be a more favorable matchup for the Knights. It is still very early in the season, so nobody knows what to expect from High Point yet, but they took Purdue down to the wire in Indiana, ultimately losing 67-65 earlier this week.
Last season, High Point finished 12-19 overall and 3-13 on the road. The key player for High Point is senior guard Nick Barbour. Last season, he was a Big South second team selection after averaging 17.7 points per game.
Head coach Donnie Jones will probably look to Isaiah Sykes and Marcus Jordan to guard Barbour. UCF forwards will have to play more help defense this game because the Panthers really don’t have a post threat. They must make sure to stay out of foul trouble though.
Prediction: Clanton and Jordan will bounce back after the loss on Monday to have big games. This should be a close game, but UCF wins by six or more points.
