Official UCF Game Thread

[Mestengo]

We played a game last night?

[ponyscott]

That was an ugly game, but it was uglier on UCF's side. I'll take ugly wins any day.

how was that ugly from an SMU standpoint? We played very good D, and hit an outrageous % from 3 to blow it open early...

We had mental breakdowns that should not have happened. Off the top of my head, the double dribble, two or three cradle calls. Don't get me wrong, we played lockdown defense and were red-hot from 3, but if we are going to build a consistent winner we have to eliminate the mental mistakes.

Those 'palming' the ball calls were bogus as they didn't get an advantage on those, it was just in normal set up play.They normally don't call those in todays games but it happens....that one ref called them. He just got on a tangent..

[George S. Patton]

To be fair, I like the fact they are shooting a very solid 47 percent from the field this year and pretty respectable at nearly 34 percent from 3-point range. The winning streak has helped those numbers come up. We also have a nice rebounding margin at about 4 more than the opposition.

The assists-to-turnover ratio is an eyesore. But it seems like when Doherty put Faye on the bench, keep Ryan Harp off campus and apparently has decided to bring Mike Walker back into the mix, that seems to be producing better results.

I think this is a better win than Rice bc we jumped on an opponent and finished them. We weren't great in the second half but Bob Knight said something about that when he called the Kansas-Missouri game. The goal for a team in the second half of game like this is just to maintain the lead and never let the opposition have a look at it. That's what Kansas did. That's exactly what SMU did.

Officially, this is a winning streak because it's at 3.

Good luck to the boys on Saturday.

[smu diamond m]

Sorry I missed you guys at Bailey's, I totally forgot

[Pony_Fan]

after watching quite a few games this year, especially the meltdown in the Hawaii set - these guys are playing better.

I'm hoping that Robert keeps tossing in 3's. He had a sick fadeaway last night. That makes it much tougher on their D to defend us. DW continues to play well. I'm encouraged a little bit...maybe they can feed off each other and start believing they can win.

[Harry0569]

after watching quite a few games this year, especially the meltdown in the Hawaii set - these guys are playing better.

I'm hoping that Robert keeps tossing in 3's. He had a sick fadeaway last night. That makes it much tougher on their D to defend us. DW continues to play well. I'm encouraged a little bit...maybe they can feed off each other and start believing they can win.

I'd like to compare this win to the UAB win in football. It gave us the confidence to win. Let's take it to Memphis, where Moody WILL BE ROCKING.

[Cardinal Puff]

UCF did not have a chance to play their game. Our improved defense is also opening up the offense and we are getting better looks. The team is playing together and did not allow the UAB game to be create a season ending tailspin.
Hoping for the best against Memphis.

[Wilshire Heights Pony]

I have criticized McCoy’s play this year but it seemed like he was playing with a renewed sense of excitement last night and it appeared he was having fun again. I hope and expect McCoy to return to the player we saw last year. McCoy we are rooting for you. See everyone on Saturday.

[PonyDoh]

I have criticized McCoy’s play this year but it seemed like he was playing with a renewed sense of excitement last night and it appeared he was having fun again. I hope and expect McCoy to return to the player we saw last year. McCoy we are rooting for you. See everyone on Saturday.

We hit tons of 3s last night, but the only one that had me visibly fired up was McCoy's. I just want that kid to have success in the worst way.

[Hoop Fan]

didnt McCoy knock down 2 threes? Its a start. Sorry if I missed the discussion but where was Otis last night? Hurt? Perhaps the mystery of this season for me is why Mike Walker was deep-sixed on the bench for the earlier part of the season with several DNPs Coach's Decision. And we needed scoring badly. Now he is a first teamer, granted because of Mccoys troubles. The extremes are really odd though with our personnel. Harp is a starter, then he never plays. Walker is given all sorts of PT in his first two years, then gets benched completely, then surfaces as a primary rotation guy again. Otis has a different role every game it seems, Faye is benched. Clinkscales looked like he was going to be given PT early in the season and then not so much. Lets hope Doh is finally deciding who he has confidence in and finding the combinations that work cuz frankly he's been all over the map the past season and a half now.

[Charleston Pony]

Williams is very capable of penetrating and kicking the ball out to guys on the wings for good looks. When Nyakundi is on, it becomes contagious. We get Walker, McCoy and others hitting treys, we can give teams fits. The 3 pointer is the great equalizer in college bball today and we have a roster capable of doing so much more than we've shown to date. A win over Memphis would be huge for the chemistry/confidence of this team.

Last night's effort will hopefully convince Williams he doesn't have to do it all by himself and that he can be the PG this team has been lacking. Like Doh said in his post game "he put up PG numbers last night"

[Pony_Fan]

didnt McCoy knock down 2 threes? Its a start. Sorry if I missed the discussion but where was Otis last night? Hurt? Perhaps the mystery of this season for me is why Mike Walker was deep-sixed on the bench for the earlier part of the season with several DNPs Coach's Decision. And we needed scoring badly. Now he is a first teamer, granted because of Mccoys troubles. The extremes are really odd though with our personnel. Harp is a starter, then he never plays. Walker is given all sorts of PT in his first two years, then gets benched completely, then surfaces as a primary rotation guy again. Otis has a different role every game it seems, Faye is benched. Clinkscales looked like he was going to be given PT early in the season and then not so much. Lets hope Doh is finally deciding who he has confidence in and finding the combinations that work cuz frankly he's been all over the map the past season and a half now.

Doherty is an odd ball sub guy since he's been here.
I agree but some of this is attributed to injuries. Harp is hurt I believe. Otis last night, no clue.
Walker - I think he should get like 10+ a game. I agree with Pdoh - Faye is a selfish player and hasn't contributed much to the team effort as a whole. I don't really know where Haynes fits in. Maybe he thinks he gets the best matchups, who the heck knows...

[Charleston Pony]

didnt McCoy knock down 2 threes? Its a start. Sorry if I missed the discussion but where was Otis last night? Hurt? Perhaps the mystery of this season for me is why Mike Walker was deep-sixed on the bench for the earlier part of the season with several DNPs Coach's Decision. And we needed scoring badly. Now he is a first teamer, granted because of Mccoys troubles. The extremes are really odd though with our personnel. Harp is a starter, then he never plays. Walker is given all sorts of PT in his first two years, then gets benched completely, then surfaces as a primary rotation guy again. Otis has a different role every game it seems, Faye is benched. Clinkscales looked like he was going to be given PT early in the season and then not so much. Lets hope Doh is finally deciding who he has confidence in and finding the combinations that work cuz frankly he's been all over the map the past season and a half now.

Doherty is an odd ball sub guy since he's been here.
I agree but some of this is attributed to injuries. Harp is hurt I believe. Otis last night, no clue.
Walker - I think he should get like 10+ a game. I agree with Pdoh - Faye is a selfish player and hasn't contributed much to the team effort as a whole. I don't really know where Haynes fits in. Maybe he thinks he gets the best matchups, who the heck knows...

Did you listen to the post game interview? Doh acknowledges he's asking for more input from his assistants on substitutions. That's a good thing.