There couldn’t be more irony. While many let the world know in no uncertain terms that Central Florida can’t possibly deserve a platform to face a school like Alabama for (what is touted as) a national championship in football, the Knights are somehow considered equal enough to get a home-and-home with the Crimson Tide in basketball.
The game that will never be allowed to happen under college football’s current farce of a “playoff” (let’s give it some scare quotes) happens easily on the hardwood. In fact, it has for the last two years now, and two straight years UCF has beaten Bama-in basketball. The latest was a 70-64 win Thursday night, which came on the heels of the Knights also posting a 65-62 win on the road in Tuscaloosa last season.
The Knights were fortunate to have a school like Bama allow them to share the same playing area, and incredibly they weren’t blown out by 50 points by the Crimson Tide as some might confidently surmise would happen. In fact, UCF trailed for just 29 seconds of the entire game Thursday, building a 12-point lead early on and holding a slim margin much of the way.
B.J. Taylor set the tone with a three-pointer right off the bat and scored a game-high 24. Aubrey Dawkins added 16 (including a gold star for 10-for-10 free throw shooting) and hard-working Chad Brown added eight points and eight big rebounds off the bench.
The biggest shot of the game actually came from Dayon Griffin, whose only three points off the bench came with just over three minutes left. His three-pointer extended a tenuous UCF lead from two points to 64-59, and the Tide came no closer the rest of the way.
Despite having nothing to play for, as we’re oft told teams like them do in games like this, Alabama was still competitive throughout. The Crimson Tide hammered the Tacko Fall-led Knights on the glass 46-29, and with 19 offensive rebounds found a way to stay in the game despite falling into an early hole and struggling from the floor.
UCF improved to 3-0 over the last two seasons against SEC schools from Alabama in the high-profile sports of football and men’s basketball. Of course, one is an accident, two is a coincidence, and three is a coincidence, too. Undoubtedly, all three wins came against teams that just had no motivation to play the Knights, and played their worst games of the season (Bama’s rebound margin was its best of the year so far, and its nine turnovers were its second-lowest through seven games). And of course there’s no way UCF could actually play with Alabama if it shared the same conference with them.
When one cuts through all the garbage, the series between these two has proven to be a good one: two good teams that may or may not be in the NCAA Tournament playing a home-and-home, on each other’s courts-not at some stuffy neutral site-and both games decided by a combined nine points. Amazing what happens when these type of games are allowed to be played, and aren’t headed off by a bunch of nonsense.
Side Dishes
- A game that looked on paper like it could be promising turned out otherwise, as Arizona steamrolled Georgia Southern 100-70. The Wildcats dominated in almost every area, shooting 50.7%, getting five in double figures (Chase Jeter led with 18 plus 10 boards), committing just six turnovers, and also holding the Eagles to 3-for-18 from three-point range.
- Despite a limited schedule, Thursday night included four overtime games. The best one was Belmont outlasting Samford 99-93 on the road, as Dylan Windler scored 31 and Nick Hopkins added 21 off the pine. The Bruins are still undefeated-6-0 now. Let’s also salute the Bulldogs, though, who are 7-2, with only losses here as well as to Ohio State after playing the Buckeyes well most of the way. Last year’s team was a major disappointment, in part due to injuries, winning just 10 games, and then saw three players jump ship as grad transfers. Yet this year’s team is playing much better, and could be yet another tough out in a Southern Conference that has plenty of them.
- Norfolk State and Hampton are separated by just 15 miles in the Coastal Virginia region and have a long-running rivalry dating back to many years together in the NCAA Division II Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association and, more recently, as members of the D-I Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. Hampton left the MEAC for the Big South this year, though, but they still met as non-conference foes and played a dandy double-overtime battle, with Norfolk State winning 94-89 at home. Nic Thomas scored 25 for the Spartans and hit a huge three-pointer with 42 seconds left in the second OT.
- Other overtime games: James Madison had to rally to top Coppin State 81-71, and Austin Peay got a solid win on the road, defeating Troy 79-74.
- Boston College took care of stubborn Sacred Heart 81-73. Freshman Wynston Tabbs keeps looking more and more like one of the Eagles’ best players, and he scored 28 here.
- SMU rolled past McNeese State 91-59, a score hardly noteworthy except Jimmy Whitt put up an honest, working man’s triple-double with 12 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, and needed just nine shots to do it. Solid.
- UC Santa Barbara quietly moved to 6-1 and handed Sacramento State its first loss with a 75-58 win.
- The Belfast Classic across the Atlantic Ocean in Northern Ireland began its second go-round, this one with eight teams including two separate four-team brackets, the Samson and Goliath brackets. No, not making that up. The Samson Bracket-judging by the teams and their tight location, are we sure this wasn’t the old Pepsi Marist Classic?-began on Thursday with Marist pulling away late from Dartmouth to win 76-58, and LIU rallied from 12 down to tip Albany 80-77. The Goliath Bracket semifinal games then were played early this morning, with nationally ranked Buffalo downing Wisconsin-Milwaukee 96-77 and San Francisco just completing a 76-58 win over Stephen F. Austin. The Dons are now 7-0, and will face Buffalo on Saturday in a juicy matchup.
Today’s Menu: A thin schedule of just 20 games, now down to 18 after the two completed already
- The Belfast Classic continues with the Samson Bracket final games. Marist takes on LIU in the final (1 p.m. Eastern, CBSSN), and that’s followed by the consolation game between Dartmouth and Albany (3:30 p.m., CBSSN).
- Big Ten play starts already. Say whatever one wants about that (we’re not really a fan, but whatever). It opens with what normally would be a less-than enticing matchup with Michigan State at Rutgers (6 p.m., Big Ten Network), except the Scarlet Knights just topped Miami (Fla.) and are at home. Then, it’s Wisconsin at Iowa in a top-25 pairing (8 p.m., Big Ten Network).
- The battle for Pittsburgh, a.k.a. the City Game, should pick up some steam with both Duquesne and Pittsburgh on the upswing. We’ll see how Pitt responds after missing an opportunity at Iowa earlier in the week.
- With South Carolina’s struggles this season, a home game against even state foe Coastal Carolina is no layup (7 p.m., SEC Network).
- An interesting game in Texas, where the Longhorns host experienced Radford, which won’t match Texas’s size but will most definitely compete.
- Mississippi State is at Dayton (7 p.m., CBSSN), a juicy opportunity for the Flyers, who have been off for a week since a solid showing at the Battle 4 Atlantis, and a chance for a nice road win for the Bulldogs.
- TCU just beat Eastern Michigan on Monday and now hosts Central Michigan, which is off its usual three-point bombing pace so far but is 6-1, with its lone loss by two points to Weber State.
- Oklahoma State takes on Minnesota at U.S. Bank Stadium, home of the NFL’s Vikings (10 p.m., Big Ten Network). The game is the back end of a unique doubleheader, following NCAA Division III schools St. Thomas (Minn.) and Wisconsin-River Falls meeting.
Have a great Friday and a terrific weekend.
