ORLANDO – The UCF Knights knew they would have to meet Texas Tech in the paint and physically battle the Red Raiders’ JT Toppin, Lequan Watts, and dominant swingman Donovan Atwell in Saturday’s 88-80 win.
The Knights outrebounded Texas Tech, 35-23, and outscored the Red Raiders, 21-5, by outrebounding them, 19-2, on the offensive glass. UCF drove the point home by creating 13 turnovers, which led to 18 points.
“I thought UCF was just more physical, more aggressive, and tougher than we were for 40 minutes,” said Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland.
Point guard Themus Fulks led four Knights in double figures with 21 points, while power forward Jamichael Stillwell (10/10) and center John Bol (14/10) recorded double-doubles in what became a tough win over one of the top shooting teams in college basketball. Jordan Burks’ inside-outside game allowed him to score 17 points as he was 5-of-7 from the floor and made all six of his free throws.
Stillwell recorded his sixth double-double while Bol’s deft touch allows him to shoot 74 percent from the field.
“I feel like I’m more than just a shooter,” explained Burks after he came out with his only three and a pair of free throws in the game’s first 1:20. “The last couple of games, I’ve been fully denied and face-guarded, so it’s hard to just get a catch-and-shoot.”
Burks also scored in the paint and got to the line, scoring 11 of those 17 points in the first half.
“You’ve seen him make threes, but now he’s putting the ball on the floor, posting some,” commented Knights coach Johnny Dawkins. “As we see him do things in practice, we’re adding those things into the game. His best basketball is ahead of him.”
Paint Touches: Center John Bol found his game with his consistent touch around the rim. He scored eight points in the opening 10:12 of the game with a pair of layups in the paint via Fulks.
“It’s all about my teammates, putting me in the right position,” said the South Sudan native. “Them diving, playing together, that gives me juice. It makes me want to fight for my brothers and go the extra mile.”
Stillwell once again used his strength in the paint and was an obstacle on defense while adding four assists as he found Bol out of halftime for a layup and a 48-40 lead.
JT Toppin Re-establishes Himself: Texas Tech forward JT Toppin averages a double-double (22.1 ppg, 10.9 rpg). In the first half, he was 4-of-5 from the floor as UCF did an outstanding job of denying paint touches. Texas Tech found Toppin immediately to start the second half. He scored 14 points in the first seven minutes of the second half as he and Lejuan Watts matched baskets with the Knights, although UCF led 57-52 with 15:24 remaining.
“Starting in transition, we had to make sure we get the rebound,” said Jordan Burks. “We held them to ten fast break points. We had more fast-break points, and that was big. Really, no threes. They shoot many threes, so we had to make sure it wasn’t a catch-and-shoot.”
Burks likes the idea of the catch-and-shoot phenomenon as a solid strategy for attacking with the three-point shot.
“That’s the best basketball to get a three off,” Burks explained. “I thought we did pretty good on that.” But how do you guard the ball? You play against makes, and you’re setting up the defense all the time. Our transition offense and our ability to score off misses are what have made us great, and that’s where we separate ourselves.”
Meanwhile, guard Christian Anderson finished with 17 points and nine assists and played the entire 40 minutes. Anderson hit a pair of threes and scored on a 16-footer from the left elbow, cutting the Knights’ lead to 36-33 with 4:10 remaining in the first half.
Anderson leads the Big 12 in assists at 7.5 while shooting a league high 43.9 percent from three.
Citronaunts or ‘Nauts: Space U is the renaming of UCF, as the school has a high number of graduates in the aerospace industry in engineering, technology, and electronics.
The Citronaunts, AKA Knights, wore a schematic blue, reminiscent of Carolina Blue from the University of North Carolina. Space U was on the front of the jerseys. The Citronaut also represented Florida’s renowned citrus industry in conjunction with aerospace technology.