American Stories – In a Defensive Batttle Cincinnati Makes Winning Plays Late

ORLANDO – UCF’s football team is still basking in the afterglow of its perfect 13-0 season.

The players made a guest appearance at halftime of the Knights’ basketball game against the No. 12-ranked Cincinnati at CFE Arena on Tuesday, and the public address announcer declared UCF “national champions” while a video showed highlights from the team’s Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl victory over Auburn on the scoreboard hanging over midcourt.

The excited crowd of 7,565 gave them a standing ovation as they descended the baseline steps.  Some of the fans even wore paper crowns for the occasion.

Now, it is up to Johnny Dawkins’ 12-6 basketball team to continue the momentum. Dawkins coached the Knights to 24 wins and a spot in the NIT semifinals at Madison Square Garden his first year. In just two years, he has developed one of the best defenses in Division I, centered around 7-6 junior Tacko Fall, one of the most unique players in the country. The Knights, currently 3-3 in American Athletic Conferece play, lead the country in field-goal defense, limiting opposing teams to a 37.7 shooting percentage.

The Knights, who are averaging 64.6 points on the offensive side of the ball, figure to get better offensively by March, too. Junior guard B.J. Taylor, a first team preseason All-American Athletic Conference selection, returned to the lineup on Tuesday after missing 16 games with a foot injury and is working his way back into shape.

“He’s not that far away,” Dawkins said. “Once he’s back, he’s going to command a lot of attention, the same way Tacko commands attention, and that’s going to open the door for a lot of our other players.”

UCF looked like it was working on a masterpiece against the Bearcats for a while, limiting them to 6-of-26 shooting in the first half, opening a 19-15 halftime lead in a low-scoring game where points were at a premium.

In the end, the Knights played 35 strong minutes before the Bearcats pulled away late. Cincinnati (16-2, 5-0), a veteran team with a star forward Gary Clark and three other 1,000-point scorers – Jacob Evans III, Kyle Washington and transfer guard Cane Broome – capitalized on possessions late in a 49-38 victory.

Winning a defensive slug fest felt like old times for Cincinnati head coach Mick Cronin. “We’ve got a lot of guys who can score. That’s always been our calling card,” he said. “We’re coaches. We’re never satisfied. That’s who we are. But I can’t ever recall holding a team to under 40 points on the road. Everybody likes to talk about upgraded scoring, but the great teams—Villanova, Virginia—all defend. We’re headed that way.

“We got to make sure it stays that way. Conference play gets a little crazy this time of year. Tonight was a blood bath. People are going to say it was ugly. But the kids play hard. Both teams played hard.

“This was a game…They’re celebrating their football team. They got their best crowd ever. They got their best player back. They need this win to start their resume. Everything is against us. We’re on the fifth day of a five-day road trip in Florida.

“But we have answers. We’re a better team.”

Cincinnati has become a perennial NCAA team under Cronin. This year, they are playing for a top-four seed in an improved conference. “Our team mirrors Gary Clark. When he steps up, we’re a better team,” Cronin said. “He doesn’t panic and the rest of the team follows his example.”

Clark, a 6-8 senior forward from Clayton, N.C., who will become just the fifth player in UC history to record over 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds, finished with 17 points and 15 rebounds. He stepped up at the right time, supplying the Bearcats with some needed offense, scoring 11 of his points in the second half when Cincinnati outscored UCF, 34-19. Defensively, Clark helped neutralize Fall, who finished with seven points and nine rebounds and did not score his first field goal until eight minutes were left in the game.

“It’s tough with Tacko because there’s a shock factor early,” Cronin said. “Everything you normally do, it doesn’t work against him. When Gary Clark started going at him, it changed the game. Defensively, for them to throw it to him close to the basket, they need to have the ball within 17 feet. With our pressure it doesn’t happen. You need to get there to throw him the lob. And we press the whole game.

“We didn’t double him until we had to.”

“Our kids understand why they win. So, I never have to prod them to play defense.”

Clark has been playing against Fall for three years so he understands what it’s like to scale a mountain.

“You just adjust to it,” Clark said. “You already know it’s going to be tough to score against him. You got to keep him from being a factor. We were able to get up and down in the second half, take him out of the game a lot, really using his size to our advantage. When I make one move, then another, he is no longer as much a factor. Coach told us at halftime, drive it to them, go at his chin so he can’t react, block … told the guards to take their time on shots. Don’t overthink it. Just play with confidence.’’

“We’re much better than we were last year. Last year, We’d go into a visiting gym, rattled, didn’t know who was going to take over. And, now it’s like we got so many guys who can make a play. Anyone can do it.”