ORLANDO, Fla. – The UCF Knights were eliminated by Tulane 65-63 in the first round of the AAC Tournament at the Amway Center on Thursday night.
“We got ourselves back in the game [in the second half] and put ourselves in situations down the stretch there,” UCF Head Coach Donnie Jones said. “We got up five, but you have to finish the game. Give Tulane credit, they battled back and made the plays down the stretch and unfortunately we fell short.”
Redshirt junior Matt Williams got off to a hot start and scored UCF’s first 5 points of the game while the Tulane Green Wave had to wait nearly three minutes to get their first basket. However, the Knights were forced to go a different direction when Williams got into early foul trouble and had to take a seat.
After jumping out to an early lead, UCF went on a five minute scoring drought and relinquished the lead to Tulane. UCF’s shooting woes has caused them troubles all season long and they weren’t able to get back on track before the Green Wave could jump out to a five-point lead.
The Knights shot just 25 percent in the first half and had a dangerously high amount of fouls (8) and turnovers (13). Meanwhile, Tulane muscled their way to 20 points in the paint and maintained a 29-21 lead heading into halftime.
“I think turnovers and bad shots kind of hurt us the whole game,” Davis said. “We were just rushed a little bit. When we slowed down and just played basketball we had some great looks.
As the first half wore on, it seemed as though the Knights energy dwindled with every missed shot or turnover. That confidence was restored quickly though as UCF came out firing on all cylinders with a 12-4 run to knot the game back up at 33.
The Green Wave weren’t out of it for long though with guards Von Julien and Louis Dabney keeping them in the game.
“They’re a together group and they play really hard,” Tulane Head Coach Ed Conroy said. “They have some deficiencies, but they keep on plugging along and I thought they showed great resilience in the second half.”
Redshirt sophomore AJ Davis joined Henriquez and flipped the switch in the second half, finishing with 20 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists. Davis led the team on an 8-0 run in a two minute span and the Knights were able to establish a 53-49 lead. Sophomore Adonys Henriquez was also a major factor coming out of halftime as he scored 12 of his 15 points in the second half.
The back-and-forth was not over as Cameron Reynolds nailed a 3-pointer to cap off an 8-0 run for Tulane which put them back out in front by a basket. A missed shot from long range by Henriquez was followed up by an and-one basket for Tulane’s Mevin Frazier which put the nail in the coffin for the Knights tourney hopes.
“I think our shot selection the last 4 to 5 minutes, we just took some shots that we shouldn’t have rushed,” Henriquez said.
The 2015-16 season was a roller coaster for the Knights and their offensive struggles need to be solved if the team hopes to right the ship next season. Luckily for the Black and Gold, BJ Taylor will be a full go for the start of next season and his presence alone could change the entire dynamic of the team. The Knights will have to find their offensive identity one way or another or they will likely suffer the same fate as the past two seasons, a first-round exit.
