With the second largest crowd in attendance to watch the UCF Knights take on the UMASS Minutemen, the Knights put on quite a show as they won 84-67.
There was a different feeling in the UCF Arena than usual, as high hopes surround this up and coming squad. “The crowd was great. Let’s keep it up the rest of the season,” said Coach Kirk Speraw.
Isaac Sosa looked like a new man out on the floor tonight from his first points of the night, with a smooth jumper, to his last of six 3-pointers to give Sosa 26 points on the night.
A.J. Rompza showed strong leadership throughout the game, adding 13 points and five assists. Rompza was fighting cramps during the second half and had to be removed from the game twice. “I was at 40% at that point but I just tried to fight through it,” said Rompza.
The Knights sport the second youngest team in the country, but by looking at their court presence and the composure by beating UMASS full court press, they have vast experience for their age.
“Even though you guys try to keep reminding us how young of a team we are, we’re going to go out there every night to make you forget that,” said Rompza.
The Knights’ freshman phenom Keith Clanton added nine points and eight rebounds off the bench, and big man Jakub “KUBA” Kusmieruk displayed a great amount of improvement adding six points and three rebounds in only 9 minutes of play.
Unfortunately Marcus Jordan could not get things going as daddy watched (see Michael Jordan Video) on from his press box. Jordan was held scoreless on the night and seemed to be forcing shots. Jordan was held out of a lot of preseason with injury so give him time to get back into the groove.
Tonight’s win was big for the Knights to start the season on the right foot as well as beating a good program in UMASS. Knight fans should look forward to a lot of games similar to tonight’s, as this team will be dressed to impress every night- in Adidas or Jordans.
