The UCF men’s basketball team hung close with the No. 20 Memphis Tigers on Wednesday night, but couldn’t hang on down the stretch to get the victory.
UCF (9-13, 1-10) was down 54-53 the road to the No. 20 Tigers with 4:50 remaining, and Memphis’ Shaq Goodwin scored to put the Tigers up by one while also drawing a foul on the play. Goodwin couldn’t convert the free throw, but the Tigers grabbed the offensive board and Joe Jackson scored with a foul once again. The story was the same on this possession, Jackson could not convert the free throw, but the Tigers got the rebound and scored again.
The Tigers scored six straight points in a span of 20 seconds to put the Tigers up by 7 and the Knights could not mount a late comeback.
“I think there were 50 second chances that really changed the momentum tonight. We’d miss a layup and they’d hit a three, or we’d give up the second chance layup. You’ve got to take advantage of those things and we didn’t,” UCF Head Coach Donnie Jones said after the game.
Tristan Spurlock led the way for the Knights, scoring 18 point and pulling down 10 rebounds, while Isaiah Sykes added 14 points in the effort.
UCF will look to get some conference revenge on Saturday on the road against USF. The last time the Knights played the Bulls at the CFE Arena, the Bulls beat the Knights in overtime. Tipoff is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. and UCF SGA is providing students interested in attending the game with transportation to the game. For more info click here for the SGA Facebook page.
