Today the Bearcats traveled to Orlando, Florida to take on the UCF Knights.
The Knights seemed to capitalize and had all the momentum in the first half. The Bearcats were lucky to go into the second half tied 35-35 after turning the ball over 15 times leading to 24 points by the Knights. They cut those turnovers, points in half and they win this game. I think the first half was very chippy between both teams as there were 18 fouls called on the Bearcats as well as a total of three technical fouls in the first half, one on Keith Williams while blocking out a free throw, one on Tari Eason and one on coach Brannen. So early on the Bearcats continued the problem of getting into early foul trouble, making more guys step up and get some tough minutes.
The second half the Bearcats limited the turnovers tremendously from the first half only commuting four turnovers. A key during this game was Chris Vogt only getting one shot attempt and finishing scoreless. Vogt having only one shot attempt is what can’t happen with this team as he’s one of the seniors and leaders of this young team. The team looked to go inside to Vogt, but UCF did a great job defending the ball on the post and senior Keith Williams finished with 19 points on 6-of-17 shooting from the floor and 10 rebounds. Sophomore guard Zach Harvey really stepped up tonight shooting the ball 5-of-6 from the floor for 15 points. This was a great sign from Harvey who has battled injuries this offseason, has been trying to find his groove as of recent and today’s performance was a good sign of that because he had some high expectations this year due to the loss of Jarron Cumberland. The Bearcats were without Jeremiah Davenport for most of the second half as Coach Brannen revealed postgame it was due to Davenport cramping. Davenport had seven points in the first half before checking out early in the second half. The Bearcats look to catch a rhythm coming out of this break, get some chemistry for the rest of the season and hopes to get back in the win column in the conference and break this minor slump.
The Bearcats will have the next 10 days off before their next conference matchup versus the Tulsa Golden Hurricane at Fifth Third Arena on January 2nd at 3pm on ESPN+.
