UC holds off UCF for tight, key AAC win
Alas, the Quadrant 2 quality win is in the books for Cincinnati's Bearcats. It didn't come as easy as many would have guessed early in the game.
Down 16 at one point in the second half, Central Florida was able to tie the Bearcats late in the game. A crowd that was hungry for a blowout had to settle for what was still a key conference victory, 73-64. UC outscored the Knights 13-4 over the game's last two minutes. A Viktor Lakhin layup gave them the lead for good with 1:15 left on the clock.
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"You've got to win games sometimes when things don't go your way," UC coach Wes Miller said of UCF's attempted comeback. "It kind of gets messed up out there, In the end, it got a lot more interesting than I thought it needed to get. I thought we forgot how to play basketball for a while. What I'm pleased with is we just found a way That's the most important quality of a good team."
The Bearcats are now 16-8 (7-4 in the AAC). Redshirt sophomore Lakhin had 20 points and eight rebounds to lead UC, with 18 of those points in the second half. David DeJulius surpassed 1,000 for his UC career and finished with 19, while Landers Nolley II added 17.
"It has to be 'next play'," DeJulius said of the late rally after the game was tied. "You're going to go through adversity. Teams are going to go on their runs. The team that is most likely to prevail is the team that sticks together through the ups and the downs."
Lakhin was a second-half go-to guy and made his presence count from the field going 7-of-12 overall and at the charity stripe making all six of his free throws.
The Bearcats forced 24 UCF turnovers and had 16 steals in the contest.
"I thought in the first half, that's as active as we've been guarding the drive," Miller said. "We haven't been generating enough turnovers. We've been emphasizing that in practice. It was good to see us get our hands on some balls today."
In addition to his 19 points, DeJulius had seven assists for the game, several going to Lakhin. The telepathy between the two has been evident in recent games.
"David is the best pick-and-roll player," Lakhin said. "If they switch, I roll. If Dave doesn't want to shoot that shot, he can pass it to me."
Said Miller of his grad student point guard, "I thought he was phenomenal. He hits a couple really big shots down the stretch that we needed. I thought Landers Nolley in the first half defensively might have been as good as I've seen him defend. Vik had a nice night. 6-for-6 from the free throw line."
Surrounded by a lower bowl of white with the student sections dressed in the day's theme, the Bearcats won the matinee Basketball En Blanc in front of 10,351 fans. It was their first win over UCF since Valentine's Day 2021 when they nipped the Knights by one. UC is now 7-1 against UCF at Fifth Third Arena and leads the series 14-5.
"Every home game is important," DeJulius said. "Everyone's going to give you their best shot and everyone's going to play hard. What other guys do, you can't constantly look at the standings and see who won or loses, you just have to take care of business."
Said Miller, "Our building was a factor. Our students were a factor. I thought they gave us a great lift. I thought our fans were phenomenal, I thought our students were phenomenal!"
Miller specifically pointed out the noise that caused UCF's Kelly to miss three straight free throws after being fouled with the Bearcats up 66-62 with :54 left in the game.
UCF has now dropped five straight games since winning a wild two-overtime thriller against Memphis Jan. 11 in Orlando. But, at No. 65 in the NCAA NET rankings before the game, it qualifies as a Quadrant 2 win something that has eluded the Bearcats this season, as well as a Quadrant 1 victory. Had they pulled the upset at No. 3 Houston, UC would have had the coveted win in the eyes of postseason prognosticators.
"Control what you can control," Miller said. "That stuff all shakes out the way it's supposed to. Once you get to the season it's just about the next day."
UCF 6-foot-9 freshman Taylor Hendricks lived up to his billing as a projected first-round pick on this Saturday. Eighteen NBA scouts were on hand to watch the long frosh projected to go between the 15th and 25th pick in the upcoming draft. Hendricks finished with 21 points with C.J. Kelly adding 17.
UCF drops to 13-9 (4-6 AAC).
The Knights of coach Johnny Dawkins did lead briefly in the game. A driving lay-up by Kelly gave UCF the edge at 12-10 with just under 12 minutes in the game. At that point, the Bearcats went on a 14-0 run, keeping the Knights scoreless for nearly seven minutes. The exclamation points in that flurry were a pair of steals which led to a pair of dunks from Jeremiah Davenport and Lakhin.
UCF would pull to within seven but the Bearcats extended the lead back to 11 by the end of the half that saw them steal the ball 10 times. UC is now 16-2 in games with a halftime lead.
Defense kept the Bearcats in command early in the second half. By the timeout with 11:32 remaining, UCF had turned the ball over 21 times. Lakhin, held to a basket in the first half, took advantage in the paint with a series of close-range shots and free throws to help UC keep their distance.
"I'm so focused to not let it drop and play as hard as I can," Lakhin said.
UCF would close the gap to six with 7:38 remaining after redshirt freshman P.J. Edwards made back-to-back threes. Lakhin quickly answered, but so did UCF's Hendricks to cut the Bearcat lead to 51-45.
Later, UCF's pressure defense led to the Knights tying the game when Edwards made a put-back with just over two minutes left. UC closed the game by making five of their last six field goals. The Bearcats led for over 36 of the game's 40 minutes.
UC's men of Miller have little time before their next tough AAC game as they hit the road for New Orleans for a Tuesday night tip with Tulane at 7 p.m. The much-improved Green Wave played Memphis Saturday at the FedEx Forum.
Mr. 1,000
With 54 seconds in the game, David DeJulius made a stepback triple giving the Bearcats a four-point lead. It also put him over the 1,000-point mark in his Bearcat career.
"I'm very appreciative of the coaches and my teammates," DeJulius said. "I was just so glad I was able to make it and put us up four."
He now checks in at 1,002. Senior Davenport sits at 962 after Saturday and could join him this season. Jarron Cumberland was the last Bearcat to join the club. DeJulius sits at No. 54 overall and is at No. 35 among players who did it in three years.
Ex-Hoosiers
This game would have featured a pair of Indiana transfers had UCF's Michael Durr played. Durr was a teammate of Rob Phinesee's last year at IU. He's been out injured since Jan. 8 and the Knights have missed the 7-foot, 250-pounder, winning just one of their last six. Phinesee recently returned from injury for the Bearcats and has helped their defense.
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This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: UC finishes off a game vs. UCF for key AAC win
