PROVIDENCE, R.I - On a dramatic Saturday of men's basketball action in the American Athletic Conference, -/rv UCF came away with a road victory at UConn, 65-53, ECU downed rv/rv Cincinnati with a last-second blocked shot, 73-71, and Tulsa beat the buzzer and USF with a corner 3-pointer, 78-75. The Knights and SMU now sit atop the conference standings at 2-0 while No. 19/17 Houston or Memphis will match their mark later today.
Saturday, January 5
-/rv UCF 65, UConn 53
UCF continues to achieve program firsts under head coach Johnny Dawkins. On Saturday the Knights earned their first ever win on the road at UConn, topping the Huskies 65-53 for their sixth-straight victory.
After falling behind 7-0 to start, the Knights (12-2, 2-0) fought back and locked down UConn, holding the Huskies (9-6, 0-2) to just 53 points and 32.2 percent shooting from the field. It marked UCF's sixth time this season holding its opponent to less than 60 points.
The Knights led 33-30 at the break and increased their lead to as many as eight points, before the Huskies fought back to tie the game at 40-40 with 14:45 to play in the game.
On the next possession Collin Smith converted a conventional three-point play and UCF never looked back. Over the final 14:45, the Black and Gold held UConn to just 13 points and just four field goals.
UCF's offensive efficiency has been stellar as of late and that didn't change on Saturday, as the Knights topped their season-best 60.4 percent from the floor against Temple with a new mark of 61.1 percent in the win over UConn.
Junior guard Aubrey Dawkins led all players with a season-high 23 points. He was a blistering 9-of-13 from the floor and went 2-of-4 from beyond the arc.
BJ Taylor added 12 points, while Dayon Griffin scored a season-high nine points in the victory. Griffin was 3-of-3 from the floor and 1-of-1 from beyond the arc.
Alterique Gilbert led the Huskie with 18 points and four 3-pointers while Christian Vital had 15 points on 7-of-13 shooting with five rebounds and two steals.
UCF was able to fight past UConn's advantage on the boards. The Huskies out-boarded the Knights 37-23 and had an almost impossible 17-0 advantage in offensive rebounds. Thankfully, the Huskies only turned those 17 rebounds into six second chance points.
The Knights took advantage of getting to the line. UCF totaled 29 free throw attempts, making 10 for a pretty nice mark of 69.0 percent for the game.
ECU 73, rv/rv Cincinnati 71
Justice Obasohan blocked Cincinnati's game-tying attempt and after the final horn sounded, ECU players rushed the floor to celebrate the team's most significant win under head coach Joe Dooley, who retook the reigns of the program in April.
K.J. Davis scored a career-high 17 points, Shawn Williams added 16 and Jayden Gardner scored seven of his 13 points down the stretch, including tipping in a blocked shot to push the Pirates' lead to 72-66 with 20.9 seconds left.
Justin Jennifer nailed a 3-pointer just three seconds later and Tre Scott made two free throws with six seconds to go, pulling the Bearcats to 73-71.
Cincinnati (12-3, 1-1 American Athletic Conference) got the ball back when ECU was whistled for a five-second violation, but Jarron Cumberland's drive to tie with one second left was denied by Obasohan.
The Pirates fell behind 9-0 in the first five minutes before Davis entered the game and scored five straight points to ignite his team and the crowd.
After starting 0-of-6 from the floor, ECU made 13-of-19 field goal attempts to close out the half and outscored the Bearcats 36-18 and lead by nine at halftime, 36-27.
Cincinnati wasted little time erasing its deficit and reclaimed the lead 4:18 into the second half, opening the frame with 12-2 spurt. However, ECU wasn't deterred. Four lead changes ensued over the next eight minutes before Williams put the Pirates ahead for good with 7:11 to play.
Cumberland led Cincinnati with 18 points, five rebounds and four assists. Nysier Brooks scored 15 and blocked three shots, Keith Williams added 13 and Scott 12.
ECU became the first team to shoot over 50 percent from the field against the Bearcats this season, finishing with a season-high clip of 51.1 percent (24-of-47).
The Pirates' seventh-ranked 3-point field goal percent defense held the Bearcats to a season-low 15.8 percent (3-of-19) shooting outside the arc.
Gardner pulled down 12 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the season for the Pirates (8-6, 1-1) and earn Coach Dooley his first American conference win.
Tulsa 78, USF 75
Curran Scott finished with 11 points, including a 3-pointer at the final buzzer to give Tulsa a 78-75 win over USF on Saturday night at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.
Scott's game-winner extended Tulsa's homecourt winning streak to 15 games as the Golden Hurricane (11-4, 1-1) improved to 9-0 at home this season. DaQuan Jeffries led the way with 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting, while Martins Igbanu and Sterling Taplin each added 15 points.
For Jeffries, it was his fourth game with at least 20 points this season. Scott added a team-high six rebounds, while Taplin hit a career-high 10 free throws in as many attempts. It was the 13th time in TU history that a player who attempted at least 10 freebies did not miss and the first time since Steven Idlet also went 10-for-10 in 2012.
The Hurricane shot 45.5-percent from the field for the game after connecting at a 50-percent clip in the second half, including a 5-of-7 effort behind the arc in the final 20 minutes.
Laquincy Rideau paced the Bulls (11-3, 1-1), who saw their seven-game winning streak come to an end, with 19 points. David Collins added 16 points and hit a game-tying triple with 4.4 seconds remaining before Scott's heroics.
USF shot 43.3-percent and did much of its damage in the paint, where it scored 42 points. The Bulls also scored 20 points off turnovers and had 19 second-chance points.
Tulsa led by as much as 11 at 65-54 with 6:20 to play, and the advantage was 71-62 with 1:12 left after a Jeffries three-throw.
However, the Bulls went on an 8-0 run that lasted just 35 seconds and Collins' 3-pointer with 4.4 on the clock knotted the score at 75.
Taplin inbounded the ball to Igbanu, who gave it right back as the guard got a running start up the floor. Heavily guarded, Taplin's third assist of the night was his biggest as the senior found an open Scott in front of the TU bench. His shot hit nothing but net as the buzzer sounded for the 78-75 win.
UPCOMING GAMES