Tigers fall to UCF, 65-56, but battle to the end

Wednesday, January 3

Orlando, Fla.

6 PM

University of Memphis

9-6, 0-2

UCF

11-4, 2-1

Memphis

UCF

Jan 03, 2018 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Memphis-UCF Boxscore Memphis Season Statistics (Overall/Conference Only)

By: Phil Stukenborg

ORLANDO – The University of Memphis made a strong recovery from its New Year's Eve showing in Cincinnati. The Tigers battled UCF, a team considered to challenge for a top-half finish in the American Athletic Conference, for 40 minutes.

But in the end, the Tigers couldn't overcome UCF Wednesday night at the CFE Arena. The Knights (11-4, 2-1) posted a 65-56 victory in an AAC game played on the UCF campus.

UCF shot 62 percent in the second half to outlast a determined effort from the Tigers, who outrebounded one of the conference's best team's on the boards, 34-33.

The Tigers (9-6, 0-2) got 15 points from Kareem Brewton and 11 from Kyvon Davenport in the loss, the team's third straight. Raynere Thornton led the U of M with nine rebounds. A.J. Davis paced UCF with 16 points and 11 rebounds, while Ceasar DeJesus scored 14.

"I thought we got out there and contested," Tiger coach Tubby Smith said. "But on the road, you have to play defense perfectly."

Memphis opened league play with two straight road games for the first time in 11 seasons. UCF and Memphis were the only AAC teams that had two consecutive road games to begin conference play.

UCF played without B.J. Taylor, the Knights' junior guard and top player. Taylor was a preseason first-team all-American Athletic Conference selection by the league's coaches, but missed the game because of a foot injury. He averaged 15.3 points against the Tigers in three games a year ago.

UCF 7-6 center Tacko Fall finished with 10 points and four rebounds, but dealt with foul trouble.

Fall averaged 18.3 points, 10.5 rebounds and 2.5 blocks in UCF's final four non-conference games before the Knights opened AAC play Dec. 27 at SMU.

Leading by one at the half, the Tigers fell behind as the Knights connected on a flurry of 3-pointers to take a 41-36 lead with 11:45 to go. Dayon Griffin had two of UCF's four 3-pointers during a six-minute stretch to open the half.

Memphis trailed by six (51-45) with 3:45 left, but couldn't get any closer.

The Tigers fell behind, 5-1, in the opening minutes, but gradually fought back to take the lead on a four-point play with 8:38 to go. Davenport converted the rare four-point play by draining a deep 3-pointer and adding the free throw for a 14-13 Memphis advantage.

Memphis never trailed the remainder of the first half and took a four-point lead (22-18) with about a minute to play on a 3-pointer in the left corner by Jeremiah Martin. UCF trimmed the margin to one (22-21) at the half on 3-pointer by Djordjije Mumin in the closing seconds.

The Tigers shot 33.3 percent in the first half, but outrebounded one of the conference's top rebounding teams, 19-17. UCF struggled from long range going 1-of-11 from beyond the arc and shot only 28 percent overall (7-of-25).

Memphis returns home to resume AAC play at 3 p.m. Saturday at FedExForum against Tulsa.