The UCF men’s basketball team crushed the Flagler Saints 96-70 in an exhibition match played Tuesday night.
The Knights went into the second half leading 40-35, turning around a 47.1% field goal completion rate with a 75.9% rate in the second half, ending the day at 60.3%. A renewed attitude coming after halftime saw the 1-7 three pointers made turn into 5-9 shots sunk past the arch.
A quarter of the points made against Flagler come from freshman and Orlando native B.J. Taylor, who went looking to build experience in the game before hitting the court in the regular season. Joined by Taylor, freshman Adonys Henriquez made a statement by pulling eight rebounds in his first game in a UCF jersey.
“I thought Adonys played extremely well, he had eight assists tonight, he passed up a lot of shots and he can really shoot the ball. I thought he played a good floor game on two turnovers,” said head coach Donnie Jones in a post-game interview.
Working around different line-ups, head coach Donnie Jones compensated for the loss of junior guard Matt Williams on Tuesday night’s game by shuffling the combination of players on the court. Williams is battling tendinitis in his legs at the moment, and is hoping to make a return soon.
The fifteen man roster includes eight newcomers this season, including five freshman. Having lost their top three scorers in all conference a year ago, Jones will look to make up for this loss now that the slate has been wiped clean.
“A lot of new faces tonight, a lot of new people in different spots. Matt Williams, another important part of our team hasn’t been able to play the last few weeks, he’s fighting severe tendonitis in his legs, but he’s getting better,” Jones said. “I really wanted to start and try some different line-ups tonight, that was my focal point. It was the first time we’ve had exhibition games in two years so it gives us a chance to do something different.”
Although the two teams haven’t played an official game since 1999, the win gives the Knights an 11-0 record when playing the Saints.
UCF will play its second and last exhibition match against Georgia College on November 11th, at 7 p.m. ET.
Regular season play will begin against Stetson University on November 16th at 6 p.m. ET at the CFE Arena.
