With back-to-back losses to conference foes after starting the season 14-0, the UCF men’s basketball team looks lost and confused on the basketball court. Here is a breakdown of what’s going wrong for the Knights and how to fix it:
Problem: They’re getting beat out of the gate
In their two losses to Houston and Southern Miss, UCF struggled in the opening minutes of the ball game. The Cougars scored the first eight points of the game and opened up a 24-8 lead on the Knights while Southern Miss raced out to a 14-9 lead in the opening minutes in Hattiesburg, MS.
Both deficits knocked the wind out of the Knights early, but it wasn’t the only times the team was under pressure early this season. Against Princeton back in late December, the Tigers scored the first eight points of the game and led by as many as 10 in the first half despite a Knight comeback. In a win over Miami earlier this season, the Hurricanes stormed out to a 21-10 lead in the first half.
Solution: Control the tempo early. Head coach Donnie Jones needs to create some up-tempo offense early and let his players get out and run to open the game. Let Marcus Jordan create off the dribble and get Isaac Sosa involved in the game early from behind the arc.
Problem: Keith Clanton is regressing, not progressing
Jones said he wants to see more aggressiveness from the sophomore forward and he’s yet to see it consistently. During the 14-game winning streak to start the season, Clanton was averaging just under 16 points per game and 8.7 rebounds per game. In the two losses, he’s averaged 13.5 points and has turned the ball over six times.
Clanton scored the first points of the game against Southern Miss on a 3-pointer, but didn’t record a point again until the 3:33 mark left in the first half. Against Houston, he didn’t hit a shot from the field in the first half. As opposed to becoming more agressive in the paint, Clanton is regressing, which has led to the Knights being beat under the rim.
Solution: Get Clanton involved early and often throughout the game. As his confidence grows, his jump shots become more fluid and he moves his feet better in the paint.
Problem: Offensively, they’re settling for jump shots
When the Knights are winning basketball games, they’re getting to the rim. Jordan is creating off the dribble and Clanton, Tyler and Herzog are completing 3-point plays inside. Against Southern Miss, the Knights got to the line just nine times. That’s not a good recipe for this up-tempo basketball team.
Solution: Let Jordan, A.J. Rompza and Isaiah Sykes create off the dribble and allow Clanton, Herzog and McCombs to work the ball inside. Once they establish success off the dribble, that will open up those 15 to 18-foot jumpers.
Problem: They aren’t getting much help from their bench
In both losses, the bench has averaged 23.5 points. The five previous games prior to the two-game losing streak, the Knights were getting an average of 27.4 points per game off their bench, including a 44-point chip against Furman. With the exception of a 13-point game from Tom Herzog, the UCF reserves have struggled against Houston and Southern Miss. Sosa is 5-for-17 during the streak and the spark plug for the Knights, Sykes, has scored just four points in both games.
Solution: As noted early, get Sosa and Sykes involved earlier in games. Defensively, Herzog has been the man for you in the middle. Use his height to your advantage to stop teams from driving to the basket and use your perimeter defense to reduce teams to mid-range jump shots.
Problem: They aren’t getting stops on defense
In basketball, runs are imminent and teams are going to make them in games. The key is to limit the damage and get stops, something the Knights haven’t done a very good job of during the losing streak. Southern Miss reeled off a 21-2 run in the second half to doom UCF and Houston had a 16-4 run. During those stretches, UCF turned the ball over and couldn’t find stops on defense, which can’t happen.
Solution: Slow the game down and explore different defenses. It seems in those stretches that UCF gets caught settling for jump shots, but if they can slow it down and let Clanton get in a groove inside, it could slow down the opposing team and stop the run.
