Returning from his three-game suspension, this probably wasn’t exactly how UCF head coach Donnie Jones envisioned his first game back, especially against his former team.
With the Knights down one point in the final seconds of regulation, junior Marcus Jordan drove the length of the court and failed to hit a desperation layup for the win, and the UCF men’s basketball team lost a heartbreaker to Marshall 65-64 Saturday night at the Cam Henderson Center in West Virginia.
UCF (13-4, 3-1 C-USA) lost its first game in Conference-USA of the season and had its five-game winning streak come to an end.
The Knights trailed for most of the contest, but remained in striking distance throughout the second half. With 40 seconds left, Keith Clanton tipped-in a basket to give the Knights the go-ahead lead at 64-63.
On the ensuing possession, UCF got a defensive stop that led to Jordan getting sent to the line. Jordan missed the one-and-one foul shot that could have put the Knights in a much better position to win.
DeAndre Kane then got fouled on the next play with 14.5 seconds left and sunk two free throws to put the Thundering Herd (13-5, 4-0 C-USA) up 65-64, ultimately sealing the victory for them as Jordan missed the potential game-winning shot.
“That was a great college basketball game,” UCF head coach Donnie Jones said in a press release from UCFAthletics.com. “It had two really good teams. Marshall made big plays down the stretch. We had opportunities in the game. We had the right guys taking the shots, but they didn’t go down.”
It was certainly a heartbreaking loss for the Knights, who have now lost five straight to Marshall on the road.
Clanton led UCF with 14 points and eight rebounds, but was four-of-11 from the field in the game. Virginia-transfer Tristan Spurlock contributed 12 points and five boards, and Isaiah Sykes added 10 points, eight rebounds, four steals and three assists for the Knights.
The Knights played pretty good defense in the game, holding the Thundering Herd to 23-of-58 (39 percent) shooting and seven-of-2o from the three-point line. However, the Knights shot an abysmal five-of-20 from beyond the arc.
In addition, the Knights were 64 percent from the charity stripe and were outrebounded 41-35.
After three straight games of owning the offensive boards, UCF allowed Marshall to outrebound them on the offensive glass 15-9. The Herd are fourth in the country in rebounds per game, led by Dennis Tinnon’s nearly 11 boards per contest.
Overall, it was a pretty defensive-minded game. Each team played each other tough and made their opponent earn baskets.
DeAndre Kane led all scorers with 16 points.
The Knights return to action Wednesday night in what squares up to be their biggest game of the conference schedule, a matchup with the Memphis Tigers at the UCF Arena. Game time is set for 8 p.m.
