UCF takes C-USA opener at home over Rice Owls

Saturday marked the start of a new season, and the Knights are 1-0.
 

UCF guard A.J. Rompza has used that motto to get the team in the right mindset for conference play. 

Saturday night, the Knights (9-6, 1-0) opened their conference schedule with a 77-58 win over Rice (6-9, 0-2) at home — a game that didn't quite begin the way the Knights would have liked, but the team rallied late in the first half to overtake the Owls, and once they did, they never looked back.

"We're 1-0 now. It's a new season," Rompza said of starting C-USA play. "We have to come out harder, be together more and give each other positive feedback when one of us makes a mistake. I think for our first game that really helped, and that's how we have to go about it in this ‘second season'."

The Knights had some trouble getting things going after several bad possessions and turnovers in the beginning stages of the game. Rice, on the other hand, was able to run out to an early 19-10 lead midway through the first half.

But once the Owls got that lead, a UCF timeout and a pep-talk got the Knights refocused and took Rice's lead away as quickly as they got it.

"I think we responded pretty well to that," Rompza said. "The game changed, but we shouldn't have to call a timeout for [coach Speraw] to yell at us for us to start playing harder or to get more stops. We have to have that in us, and in order for us to be good we have to put that upon ourselves."

After the timeout, the Knights found the intensity they had lacked to start the game after switching to a press-style defense. The Knights forced some turnovers and bad possession by the Owls and started to hit some shots of their own.

UCF quickly cut into Rice's lead and after a Rompza three-pointer with 4:46 left, the Knights took a lead of their own and would never relinquish it.

After it was 19-10, UCF went on a 23-2 run to end the half, a stretch that included 18 straight points by the Knights, before Rice knocked down a three with 30 seconds left to make it 33-24 at the half.

The Knights continued to build on their lead in the second half, getting up by as much as 21 points when the score was 57-36 at the halfway point and later to 22 with under thirty     seconds to play.

Freshman forward Keith Clanton led the way for the Knights with six rebounds and a career-high 17 points. His previous high was 14.

Clanton was 7-of-9 from the floor and even knocked down two jumpers from behind the arc.

Clanton said the coaches have urged him to look for the outside shot because most teams aren't looking for him to shoot from behind the arc.

"I'm real comfortable with it now," Clanton said. "I've been shooting a lot the past couple weeks and really working on my jumper a lot. I'm getting comfortable every time I get it."

Rompza chipped in 13 points of his own to go along with six assists and five steals. It was the fifth time Rompza has tallied at least five steals in a game, and it is something he has been working on a lot in practice by making sure he positions himself properly in the passing lanes so he can get those chances.

Freshman guard Marcus Jordan got his first start as a Knight and went on to tally five points and two steals in 19 minutes.

UCF coach Kirk Speraw said he thinks Jordan is starting to hit his stride and is beginning to adjust to the college level, after a knee injury hampered Jordan before the season started.

Prior to Saturday's game against Rice, Jordan scored in double-figures in three of his previous five games but he got himself into foul trouble early in the second half and didn't see much action from then on.

With conference play underway, the Knights will host Marshall Wednesday night at home, a team that Speraw said is a top-25 quality team and will be a very tough and dangerous opponent for UCF.

Even though it took 14 games, Rompza said he thinks the team now understands what it has to do to win and though it won't be easy with some difficult C-USA games coming up, they will attempt to build off getting their first conference win right off the bat.

"The whole season is based about winning, but when you get into conference, stuff starts to get more serious," Rompza said. "Defenses start to tighten up. Teams know their rotations really well by then and you just have to come out and execute and be ready to play.

"That's what we have to start doing and continue to do as the conference season goes along."