Reason for Knights slow start: ‘Inconsistency’

Before the UCF women's basketball team won the conference tournament, they began last season with a 2-11 record.

This year, the team finds itself in a similar position as the reigning Conference-USA champs hold a 3-7 record.

"It's inconsistency. That's the reason [for the slow start]," head coach Joi Williams said.

"We either start strong, or we finish strong. We have to do both."

"We just have to be more consistent on both ends of the floor."

At the same time, UCF's non-conference schedule isn't loaded with cupcakes either.
Of UCF's seven losses, three were at the hands of a ranked opponent (Middle Tennessee State, Florida State and Notre Dame) with two others coming to formidable opponents in Washington and Alabama.

"The experience we gained [from playing tough opponents] is invaluable," Williams said.

"The thing about that is you get that experience, but you've got to put it to use. That's why we were disappointed [Friday] night because we have played a tough      schedule, and we've seen just about everything you can see, and we've not used that to our advantage once we started conference play."

The Knights lost to Marshall, 74-60, to kickoff their conference schedule Friday night. It was a team that Williams really thought was one the Knights could beat.

"I was disappointed," Williams said. "I really didn't expect that because we had a couple good days of practice, and I really thought like we were focused and ready, and we came out and did not execute offensively."

Preseason C-USA Player of the Year, Emma Cannon, saw just 13 minutes of action before fouling out in the game. Cannon, who is averaging 13.3 points and 9.5 rebounds per game, managed just seven points and two rebounds against the Thundering Herd.

The Knights also struggled to defend while Marshall jumped out to an early 36-20 at the half. Marshall shot 56.6 percent from the field for the game while UCF posted a mark of 34.4.

A poor shooting night wasn't what bothered Williams though. It was the turnovers and not converting on opportunities in the paint that really bothered her.

"We have to do a better job of taking care of the ball and not turning it over," Williams said.

"We have to improve in that area quickly. We also have to convert points in the paint."

"We're getting some easy looks and we're not finishing them."

Only Marshay White (17) and Chelsie Wiley (10) were in double-figures in scoring for the Knights as Wiley continued with her struggles from beyond the arc this season.

Wiley has connected on just nine of 40 three-point attempts this season, good for 23 percent. Last season, Wiley knocked down 41 percent of her three-point tries with 73 three-pointers made.

Wiley took her game to another level once the conference season rolled around last year, averaging 16.6 points per game and  she hopes for the same fortune this season.

While the season is still young and the Knights have played just one conference game so far,  they still have a chance to make a run the same way they did a year ago.

"Even though it's a lot of the same personnel, it's a new team," Williams said. "I can't compare them to last year. Just because we did it last year doesn't mean we're going to do it again.

"But we have the same opportunity whether we take advantage of it or not. Right now we're behind where we started off conference last year."

The Knights won nine of their first 11 conference games last year before winning the conference tournament.

UCF will get its next chance to imitate last seaon's late push when to go on the road to take on East Carolina Sunday, Jan. 10.