UCF Sweeps at Home and Survives Away

UCF completed a winning homestand Wednesday night wrangling the SMU Mustangs 70-45, improving their record to 14-6. The Knights came out of the locker room strong on both ends of the court, scoring the first 9 points of the game, and not allowing SMU to score until 3 and a half minutes into the first half.
Starting Guard for UCF and leading scorer in Conference USA, Jermaine Taylor, was especially on point, shooting over 50% from the field and earning 16 points in the first half. Combine that with front man A.J. Rompza’s 7 assists and guard Issac Sosa’s 8 points, 6 of those from the behind the arc, and it results in a 40-23 UCF half-time lead.
Jermaine Taylor said of his team’s as well as his own impressive start, “I was feelin’ it, and when I’m feelin’ it, I’m gonna let it run. A.J. (Rompza) did a good job of finding me, and the big men did a good job of getting me open.”
The second half started slightly slower for the Knights, only scoring 12 points in the first 10 minutes. Luckily UCF was dominant on the other side of the ball, forcing the Mustangs to make only 32% of their shots and not giving up any three’s.
The Knights also dominated off the glass, outrebounding the Mustangs 46-32. The real story of the game was UCF’s bench production with premiere sub forward, A.J. Tyler, leading the pack. Tyler came off the bench to earn a double-double, with 10 points and 11 rebounds; the rest of the bench tacked on another 21 points for the Knights.
A.J. is proud to contribute, saying, “…getting out there, doing what I can, making the most out of the opportunity. An opportunity to get off the bench and spark the team, get a little extra offense.”
Getting off to an early start, offensively and defensively, and keeping that intensity throughout the game seemed to be the perfect recipe for success for the Black and Gold.
Head Coach, Kirk Speraw, would agree, saying of his team’s outing, “Early in the game, we set a very good tone, didn’t give anything away easy, fought hard on the glass…got the spread, and I’m very proud of our guys to not let up on that…Didn’t let them feel like they could get back in the game.”
The Knights are on a roll, and every player is riding the wave. Jermaine Tyler summed it up: “We’re feeling real good. Everybody’s playing with confidence. Before we walk out on that court, we’re pumped up. We’re ready to play every game now.”
The Knights then traveled to New Orleans to beat Tulane in overtime 79-74 on Saturday, keeping their winning streak alive at 5. In their first overtime contest of the season, Taylor led the team with 28 points, and Rompza added another 13. UCF’s reserves outscored Tulane’s bench 24-13, Isaac Sosa leading the way with 12 points for the Knights.
UCF’s defense stepped up once again, forcing the Green Wave to shoot only 35% from the field.
Before going on the road, Coach Speraw said, “It’s nice for us to do what we’re doing at home, but now we gotta go get that done on the road.”
The Knights took care of business on the road, and tonight they have a conference matchup against the Houston Cougars at the UCF arena. The Cougars are 12-7 overall and rank 5th in Conference USA.