Isaiah Sykes was “Mr. Everything,” scoring 22 points, dishing eight assists and grabbing eight rebounds in Sunday afternoon’s victory against Bethune-Cookman.
UCF (2-1) started a little bit slow, allowing the Wildcats to take an early 16-10 lead, but a 12-2 run to close out the half gave the Knights the edge to eventually pull away by ending the half up 10 points.
The Knights controlled the second half, keeping Bethune-Cookman from scoring for multiple minutes at one point. Calvin Newell added 18 points and Tristan Spurlock scored 16, including a perfect three for three from deep in the Knights victory.
The most noticeable difference in the Knights was Sykes coming off of the bench, even though he played just as many minutes as anyone on the team. After a tough 12 point loss against the Seminoles where the Knights turned the ball over 20 times, they played a lot more conservatively on Sunday, only turning the ball over 11 times.
“We are nowhere where we need to be. We still have to be a better team at sharing the basketball. I think we need to continue to trust our teammates. I thought we made some strides over the weekend from the loss, and I saw us do some better things today,” head coach Donnie Jones said.
The Knights are back in action Thursday when they head down to Miami to take on the Hurricanes.
