ORLANDO, Fla. – Coming off a 4 game losing streak, UCF (9-9, 1-6) was unable to slow down the Memphis Tigers on Wednesday night, falling 69-59. The Tigers (16-4, 6-2) were riding a 3 game win streak of their own, sitting pretty all alone in third place within the American Athletic Conference.
Isiah Sykes had a tremendous individual effort go to waste, putting up 24 points- the most of any player on the court. He also led the Knights in rebounds, recovering the ball 12 times to complete the double-double.
It was another story of a great effort with not enough life to sustain the Knights through the fourth quarter. It was the third consecutive game that UCF held their destiny well within their own grasp at halftime, entering intermission tied at 39, after failing to convert previous halftime scores of 27-30 and 22-22.
Superior rebounding kept the game close all night, as UCF was able to scoop up 35 total rebounds, in comparison to the 30 retained by the Tigers.
As has been the trend, however, the Knights’ offense was by far the least effective of the two units, shooting only 39.7% from the field and accumulating only 4 points from free throw attempts. As a matter of fact, only 3 free throw attempts were even drawn during the second half.
23 times UCF was forced to take shots from the perimeter, only sinking 5 of their outrageous 23 3 point attempts.
In the last eleven minutes of play, UCF was outscored 15-7, sealing their fate with another lackluster finish to a hard fought game.
When asked about the late game fallout, Sykes blamed it on “mental mistakes down the stretch,” and said that he has to “do a better job of getting in the paint, giving my teammates shots towards the end.”
“Down the stretch they made the plays they needed to,” said Sykes.
UCF will next match wits against Louisville on Saturday in Kentucky. The last time a Knights team traveled up to the Cardinals’ home turf, the Knights upset the No. 8 ranked Teddy Bridgewater and company in the midst of a storybook season.
The team can only hope some of that football season magic carries over as they face a unit that is 17-3 and has only lost once at home this season. Tipoff is scheduled for 9:00 pm.
