UCF stopped its longest losing streak of the season and restored hope of a long-awaited NCAA Tournament return.
Jordan Burks matched his career-high with 23 points and added seven rebounds as the Knights handled fellow Big 12 bubble team TCU 82-71 at Addition Financial Arena on Tuesday, Feb. 17. UCF (18-7, 7-6) had lost its previous three games, while the visiting Horned Frogs (16-9, 6-7) entered the night on a three-game winning streak.
“You’ve got to have short-term memory in this league,” fifth-year point guard Themus Fulks said. “We messed that one up and lost against West Virginia. We regrouped, we recovered and we responded.”
ESPN’s Joe Lunardi projected both UCF and TCU among the last eight teams into the tournament field of 68, with the Knights holding a 10-seed.
“We came with a desperation, and that’s what you have to have this time of year,” UCF coach Johnny Dawkins said.
Jamichael Stillwell returned from a one-game injury absence to contribute nine points and six rebounds, and Fulks added 14 points with a team-high seven assists.
Here are three takeaways from the Knights’ successful must-win performance on home floor.
Jordan Burks, George Beale Jr. heat up from 3-point range
Burks and senior George Beale Jr. combined to hit all eight of the Knights’ 3-pointers.
Burks went right to work, sinking the first of his five on the opening possession and scoring 10 of UCF’s first 14 points overall. TCU coach Jamie Dixon said the 6-foot-9 junior “set the tone and put us on our heels.”
He added another pair in the final four minutes of the first half, including a stepback away from a slipping Tanner Toolson and in front of the Horned Frogs’ bench.
“He’s important every night,” Fulks said. “I hate that it doesn’t show up all the time on the stat sheet because people don’t give him his flowers all the time unless he has a lot of points or hits a lot of 3s. He’s the main guy crashing, getting us extra possessions, guarding one of the top players.
“He’s a focal point for our team. Without him, we probably wouldn’t be in this position.”
Beale took advantage of extra minutes with Carmelo Pacheco sidelined due to a concussion. He extended UCF’s lead to 19 with 10½ minutes left by nailing his third and final triple.
The Horned Frogs countered with a 9-0 run, and Dawkins called timeout to settle the nerves and avoid a repeat of the weekend collapse.
“You know what could be going through the players’ minds at that time,” Stillwell said. “You want to make sure you ease their minds and let them know it’s still going to be about executing and their effort out there.”
Fulks buried a pair of short jumpers, and UCF grabbed control again with 10 of the next 12 points.
Shooting woes at 3-point, free throw line doom TCU
UCF turned up its defensive intensity in the first half, forcing four turnovers before the first media timeout and holding TCU to a 1-for-9 shooting stretch to pad its lead to double digits.
As they did in last year’s trip to Orlando, the Horned Frogs struggled mightily with the 3-ball. They were 4 of 21 from beyond the arc; Micah Robinson, who had a team-high 20 points, was the only player with multiple makes.
Perhaps tougher to swallow for TCU was leaving 10 points at the free throw line, including a pair on the final play of the first half. Toolson undercut Fulks’ cross-court pass from the baseline and drew an ill-advised foul from Beale before the buzzer.
Toolson’s free throws rimmed out, and UCF maintained a 14-point advantage. The Knights pushed the lead to as many as 19 by the halfway point of the second period.
David Punch, the Horned Frogs’ leading scorer, picked up three first-half fouls and was briefly rooted to the bench after the restart. He finished with 14 points on 7-of-12 shooting.
UCF embarks on 2-game road trip in Utah
As it did last January for consecutive games against Arizona and Arizona State, UCF will depart for an NBA-style western road trip. The Knights open with Utah at 9 p.m. Saturday and then drive down to BYU for an 11 p.m. tipoff the following Tuesday.
BYU is the last ranked opponent the Knights are scheduled to face during the regular season. The Cougars lost sharpshooting senior guard Richie Saunders to a torn ACL earlier this week, but they also have one of the nation’s top freshmen in forward AJ Dybantsa.
“We’re a long way from over,” Dawkins said. “We still have five league games to go. Every place we play, and every team that will come here will be very, very good and playing with desperation as well.”
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: UCF basketball snaps 3-game losing streak with key win over TCU
Reporting by Chris Boyle, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
