UCF Beats USF 60-58 To Advance to AAC Quarterfinals

Darius Perry hit 3 pointer with 32 seconds that gave the Knights the lead for good as UCF advanced to AAC Quarterfinals with 60-58 win over USF.

Perry led with 13 points, while Darin Green Jr scored 11, Darius Johnson scored 10. Mbacke Diong scored 8 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 blocks.

The Knights survied 2 South Florida missed 3 point shots in the final seconds to advance to take on Memphis.

Here my 3 thoughts from game.

1-UCF Ended 1st Half Well Despite Offense Struggles

Despite getting outplayed for most of the first 20 minutes the Knights were able to go the half tied at 29 thanks to 7-0 run to end the half. They fought through the struggles and did not let the game get away from them. Green kept them in it scoring 9 of Knights first 18 points of the game and 11 points total.

2- UCF Protected Ball In 2nd Half

UCF turn the ball over 7 times which resulted in 9 Bulls points in the first half. The Knights only turn it over 3 times in 2nd half and only gave up 4 points. The Knights will need to duplicate the 2nd half performance on Friday to have a shot in upsetting Memphis.

3- UCF Must Rebound Better

UCF was outrebounded in the first half 28-18 and gave up 11 offense rebounds to only 3 for UCF. They ended up getting outrebounded 49-36 for the game although did a better job in only giving up six offense rebounds in 2nd half. This must be better on Friday.

Up Next- UCF will take on Memphis in AAC Championship Quarterfinals at 9pm on ESPNU. They split with Memphis in regular season with the Knights won first meeting on January 12th at home 74-64 while the Tigers won the 2nd meeting 88-60 on Feb 5 in Memphis.