After losing to the Wichita State Shockers in overtime on the road 11 days ago, the UCF men’s basketball team hoped to secure their first-ever win over the Shockers on Wednesday at Addition Financial Arena.
After the Knights fought hard to make a second-half comeback, the Shockers found themselves with the ball up by one with 50 seconds remaining in the game.
Wichita State senior guard Alterique Gilbert rose to the occasion making a 3-pointer with 33 seconds left in the game, followed by two free throws to give the Shockers a 4-point advantage with 13 seconds remaining.
Down four points, UCF senior guard Darius Perry facilitated his way into the lane converting an and-one basket to cut the deficit to one.
In a full-court press, UCF forced Wichita State into a turnover with eight seconds remaining, giving the Knights one last chance to complete the upset.
With the limited capacity crowd of about 1,385 individuals up on their feet, the Knights inbounded the ball at the top of the key to the hot hand of Perry. Going one-on-one with his defender, Perry pulled up from the elbow as time expired for a potential game-winning shot.
After rattling around on the rim, the ball did not find its way through the hoop and the Shockers beat the Knights 61-60.
“I feel like I’ve got to make that shot,” Perry said after the game. “I feel like I’ve made that shot a million times in my life, but it just didn’t go down.”
Despite missing the game-winning shot, Perry led the game in scoring, finishing with season-high 27 points shooting 10-of-19 from the field, and converting on 5-of-10 of his 3-pointers.
After the game, UCF head coach Johnny Dawkins said after the game that he loved the shot that Perry took, and the Knights will live with that shot every time.
Dawkins praised Perry’s defensive efforts, along with his offensive performance and career-high scoring during the game.
“He played a really good basketball game for us in all facets,” Dawkins said. “He did a great job guarding Tyson (Etienne) who’s their best offensive player. We gave him that assignment and I thought he really took it to heart and defended well.”
Etienne entered the game leading the team in scoring, averaging 18 points-per-game. With Perry defending him, the sophomore guard only scored five points on 1-of-8 from the field.
Gilbert led the Shockers in scoring with 17 points off the bench, while junior guard Dexter Dennis followed close behind with a double-double performance of 16 points and 10 rebounds.
Perry was the lone double-digit scorer for the Knights, with sophomore guard Dre Fuller Jr. finishing second with 9 points.
The game started off with poor shooting from both teams, combining for 3-of-13 at the under 16-minute timeout break with a score of 6-5. The scoring would improve from there, as Wichita State would go into halftime leading 36-30.
Both teams would trade buckets for the first seven minutes of the half, with the Knights never getting within four points and the Shockers never advancing the lead to double digits.
With just over 10 minutes remaining in the game, the Knights would tie the game at 46 due to a 9-2 scoring run, capped off by a 3-pointer from sophomore forward C.J. Walker.
Both teams traded the lead throughout the last 10 minutes, with UCF’s final lead coming from an aggressive put-back dunk from freshman forward Isaiah Adams.
This rebound was one of 14 offensive rebounds grabbed by the Knights, contributing to their 35-31 rebound advantage.
Despite their efforts, the Knights fell one shot short of avenging their loss, resulting in a season-sweep to the Shockers.
“Today we didn’t put together 40 minutes and that’s why the game was the way it was,” Perry said. “I’m still proud of my guys for the fight they put up at the end. We’ve got to build off of this.”
This was the fifth loss by single digits on the year for UCF.
With the win, Wichita State improves to 11-4 overall and 7-2 in the American Athletic Conference, while UCF falls to 5-10 overall and 3-9 in conference play.
The Knights will look to get in the winning column on Friday as they host Tulane Green Wave, which has an overall 8-7 record and 3-7 in the AAC, at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.
“They compete and believe and they played their hearts out tonight,” Dawkins said. “That’s all you want from your guys. They compete. I thought they played their hearts out tonight, and I think they believe that every night that we step out onto the floor, we can win.”
