The Knights fell 54-41 late Saturday night against FAU, accepting a third straight loss since taking the road against Florida State.
UCF led for the majority of the first half, clinching a 26-25 lead before heading into the locker rooms. The second half was an entirely different story, marked a dry spell for UCF, where sixteen minutes of gameplay passed, with only freshmen Adonys Henriquez and BJ Taylor both putting in a free throw from the line. Taylor would once again lead in total points with 17 for the night, his fourth time leading the team in points since beginning this fall.
Despite owning a 21-8 advantage when playing FAU, the Knights finished 13-of-51 on field goals and 3-of-12 on three-pointers with the Owls at home.
“It’s always hard and it’s always tough to take a loss like that,” said head coach Donnie Jones. “Any time you have a hard time scoring you’re grinding hard on the defensive end. We just had one of those second halves where we couldn’t get one to go down.”
A series of fouls set the Knights back in those sixteen minutes, allowing the Owls to capitalize and take a 26-2 shooting lead, before UCF’s Saheed Davis broke the run after pulling in a basket.
“I still believe in this team,” continued Jones. “It was one game and there’s a lot of growing going on in that locker room right now, there’s a lot of good players and a lot of good kids. I think tonight was another challenge for us and we’ll get back to work here… we really get a chance to improve over these next few days.”
The Knights will face Detroit at home next Wednesday, at 7 p.m. Fans can catch the Knights and the Titans play on ESPN3.
