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For the first time in school history, the UCF Knights are moving on in the NCAA Tournament.
Behind 13 points, 18 rebounds and five blocks from Tacko Fall, plus 15 from B.J. Taylor and 14 from Aubrey Dawkins, the Knights disposed of the VCU Rams 73-58 to record the first-ever NCAA Tournament win in five tries.
Awaiting the Knights in Round Two: Zion Williamson, Mike Krzyzewski and the #1 overall seed Duke Blue Devils.
But first, let’s enjoy this:
Highlights
Reaction
"The guys gave it everything they had and that's all you can ask."
— NCAA March Madness (@marchmadness) March 23, 2019
Tacko Fall and the Knights pick up their first-ever NCAA Tournament win! #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/8QMkaz9weN
Don’t hold back...SLAP IT ON‼️ #GKMO ⚔️ #MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/8BgwMBgAGq
— UCF Men’s Hoops #GKMO (@UCF_MBB) March 23, 2019
Three Takeaways
This is Tacko Fall’s moment
Tacko Fall recorded a double-double and put on an impressive performance on national TV. he came out aggressively and stayed out of foul trouble. His presence in the middle on the defensive end was unsolvable for VCU, who show 19/61 (31.1%), and 13/35 (37.1%) on two-point shots.
Plus, he got plenty of air time on CBS:
Tacko Fall is 7' 6" and even towers over @RealGrantHill33. @TracyWolfson with more on the big man. pic.twitter.com/EvESxFDkrs
— March Madness TV (@MarchMadnessTV) March 23, 2019
Tacko Fall will be one of the most thoroughly-covered players in the shole tournament over the next 36 hours.
Let’s go streaking
This game was tied at 24 with 3:15 to go in the first half, and the Knights hadn’t scored in four minutes.
Then Terrell Allen hit a three to make it 27-24, and VCU just...couldn’t score.
The Knights scored 20 points in a row and held VCU without a point for ten minutes.
Part of it was VCU pressing the issue (they missed 15 straight shots), and part of it was UCF’s defense, but that streak was the difference.
Big win on the big stage
Jim Nantz. Bill Raftery. Grant Hill. Tracy Wolfson. Greg Gumbel. Clark Kellogg. Kenny Smith. Charles Barkley.
Those people were all covering a UCF Basketball game tonight - calling it, analyzing it, talking about it. And they did it on CBS - not TNT or TBS or truTV.
And they’ll get to do it again on Sunday at 5:15 p.m. when the Knights take on Duke in the second round.
Just like when College GameDay came to town, you just cannot buy that kind of national exposure.
Who’s got next?
You know who:
Bring on the Dukies.