The Knights edged out the UMass Minutemen for their third consecutive win after a tip-in from Shaheed Davis gave UCF the lead with just 2.4 seconds remaining in the game on Tuesday night.
“I’m just really happy with a lot of efforts from the team tonight. They showed some toughness and executed down the stretch,” Head Coach Donnie Jones said. “We got the stops, we got the finishes we needed and it was a great team victory.”
Defense was the name of the game on Tuesday night as the Knights held UMass to just 38.2 percent from the field and 23.3 percent from beyond the arc. Sophomore guard Donte Clark, the Minutemen’s lead scorer, was held to his second lowest scoring total of the season with only 12 points.
Sophomore swingman Adonys Henriquez also seemed to find his shot early on in the game, scoring 9 points in the first half to go with 3 rebounds and 2 assists. Henriquez has seen a lot of attention from opposing defenses thus far this season, but the sophomore was able to find space regularly despite the stingy UMass defense.
UCF was stuck in a sloppy defensive battle for most of the game as both teams ended the night with a combined 29 turnovers, but the Knights’ solid shooting kept them ahead of the Minutemen for the lion’s share of the game. The Minutemen came out of halftime on a 25-12 run which eventually allotted them their first lead of the game midway through the second half.
The Knights team-first style of basketball paid off once again and allowed them to take advantage of UMass in the waning moments of the game with quality minutes from seniors Staphon Blair and Daiquan Walker.
“Last year we had to depend on one or two guys to get points for us and those were freshmen and one of those freshmen has not played this year,” Jones said. “So now we get a whole new group of guys that’s asking to be given different roles here. So I think the beauty of what we do is that it isn’t one guy that has to win for us, it is our team that can win for us.”
However, it was redshirt sophomore AJ Davis who made the difference in the final minutes when he scored consecutive buckets to pull the game back to a tie. Davis stuffed the stat sheet with 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals while also leading the team in scoring with 14 points.
“I try to drive, really thinking pass-first and get my teammates involved and get other guys easy shots because I want to help facilitate and get our shooters good looks,” AJ Davis said.
Donnie Jones final play call with seconds remaining led to an open shot for Daiquan Walker, but his shot just wouldn’t fall and senior Shaheed Davis was able to tap it in as it came off the rim to give the Knights the close victory.
“I was just waiting for [the ball] to come off, like my initial intent was to dunk it but it sat up there [on the rim] for a while so I just found a way to get it done,” Shaheed Davis said.
Still missing for the Knights is sophomore court general BJ Taylor who is working his way back from a bone bruise he suffered before the season began. UCF is a much better team with Taylor on the court and that is certainly a welcome prospect for all Knights fans considering how well the team has played without him.
UCF will take on the Florida Atlantic Owls this coming Saturday as they seek to build upon their three-game win streak. The Owls are 1-5, but their lone victory came against the Miami (OH) Redhawks who beat the Knights back on Nov. 28.
