Getty Brandon Mahan of the UCF Knights snags a rebound.
The Central Florida Knights (3-2, 1-1) head to the Yuengling Center in Tampa to take on the South Florida Bulls (5-4, 1-2) Saturday.
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The game (7 p.m. ET start time) won’t be on regular TV anywhere, but anyone in the US can watch UCF vs South Florida live on ESPN+ right here:
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UCF vs South Florida Preview
The Bulls have lost two very close games back to back after winning four straight. First, South Florida lost an overtime thriller to Wichita State before dropping a 58-57 road game to Memphis on December 29. Guard Caleb Murphy led the way for the Bulls with 20 points, 16 of which came in the second half.
“Caleb in the second half was more aggressive in what we wanted to do,” head coach Brian Gregory said after the loss.
USF had 20 turnovers against Memphis, nine of which came in the final 10 minutes of the game, and the team’s inability to take care of the ball resulted in disaster down the stretch. “An area that we need to dramatically improve in is our ability to handle pressure, be strong with the ball, and make good decisions … We have to do some stuff in terms of keeping our poise in those situations and being able to make better decisions,” Gregory said, adding: “We made some bad decisions and made a couple bad shots.”
As for the Knights, they last played on December 26 after seeing their December 30 game against Tulane canceled. UCF lost to No. 5 Houston, 63-54, and will be looking to rebound here. Brandon Mahan and Darius Perry scored 13 points apiece, while Darin Green Jr. added 12 in the loss.
Central Florida went into the half against Houston tied 25-25, but an eight-minute scoring drought in the second half kept the team from gaining much ground in the second. The Knights were just 2-of-13 from downtown, and they made just eight of 24 shots in the second half.
“Gotta be a little more patient have a little more poise. And that definitely hurt us and so there were several sessions and sections in the game where I didn’t think we executed as well and got the type of looks we want to get,” UCF head coach Johnny Dawkins said after the game.
Perry, who is averaging 8.0 points a game, agrees. “We just couldn’t string together enough stops in a row,” Perry said. “In the first half, we played some really good defense, holding them to 25 points. The second half they took advantage, and we did not take care of the ball the way we should have. They punched us first to start the second half and we never punched back.”
The Knights enter this game scoring 67.2 points per contest, while the Bulls are averaging 70.6 points a game. Whoever takes care of the ball and plays better defense will likely come out on top, with both teams looking to keep their recent losing streaks to a minimum.