Men drop difficult games against conference foes

By Brody Rollins     1/22/09 6:00pm

After picking up their first win in Conference USA play in over a season last week against Southern Methodist University, the Owls took a step backward Saturday, losing 77-52 to The University of Central Florida. The loss drops the Owls to 6-11 overall, and 1-2 in conference play.

Playing their first game without injured freshman forward Lucas Kuipers, who broke his wrist during practice last Thursday, the Owls struggled to find a rhythm on offense and shot just 33 percent in the game, compared to over 50 percent for UCF.

Kuipers, the team's third leading scorer with 8.8 points per game, will miss the next six to eight weeks. His return coincides with the start of the C-USA tournament in early March.

---

---

The Owls played well in the first 20 minutes against UCF and rallied late in the first half to bring the game to a 30-30 standstill heading into halftime off a pair of free throws by sophomore forward Suleiman Braihmoh with .1 seconds left.

In the second half, the Owls were unable to penetrate the zone defense employed by UCF that led to 5 of 26 shooting; 13 of those shots coming from behind the arc.

"We did our best to break the zone," junior guard Cory Pflieger said. "We got open shots, but just couldn't knock them down."

Before the game got away in the second half, Pflieger electrified the crowd after completing a four-point play on a jump shot at least three feet beyond the college line three-point line. The play would give the Owls their last lead of the game at 39-38, with just over 17 minutes to play.

UCF pulled away from the Owls shortly afterward, going on a 14-0 run that put them ahead 56-42 midway through the half. Jermaine Taylor, the conference's leading scorer, contributed eight of those points en route to a game high 20 points.

Defensively, the Owls played well early, limiting Taylor, to five shot attempts in the first half.

"Jermaine's one of the top players in the league and we wanted to get the ball to Cliff early to get him in foul trouble," sophomore center Trey Stanton said.

The Owls were able to do just that, drawing Taylor into picking up two fouls in the first thirteen minutes of action.

There was also a stretch during the first half when the Owls held the Knights scoreless for nearly four and a half minutes. After halftime the UCF offense took off, shooting over 60 percent from the field and 83 percent behind the arc. During their 14-0 run, UCF went three for three from beyond the three-point line.

"Midway through when they extended their lead, I think we lost our defensive concentration and focus," head coach Ben Braun said. "They have a lot of options and you have to be really organized. I thought we didn't communicate like we were when we were playing defense in the first half."

There were some bright spots for the Owls. Freshman guard Connor Frizzelle played a near flawless first half, scoring 12 points on 4-4 shooting, with two assists and no turnovers. His combination of accuracy from outside the arc and dribble penetration off of pump fakes kept the Owls in the game while others were still finding their shot.

"Connor's midrange game in the first half was really good," Braun said. "He took one dribble, burst to the basket, pulled up in the lane, pulled up at the elbow and knocked shots down."

Frizzelle would finish the game as the Owls leading scorer with 14 points in the game.

He put up an even more impressive performance against Memphis in their next game and finished the night with 16 points.

The Owls lost on the road to the 22nd ranked Tigers last Wednesday night 80-52 at the FedEx Forum. Memphis (14-3, 4-0 C-USA) jumped out to an 11-2 lead early and never looked back.

The Tigers' lead would grow to as much as 22 in the first half before Frizzelle hit a jumpshot for three of his game high 16 points. Frizzelle also led the team with nine rebounds. Senior guard Rodney Foster added 13 points, including the first 11 of the game for the Owls who struggled against the high pressure defense of Memphis.

The Owls were held to just 44 shots and turned the ball over 21 times.

Memphis was led by holdovers from last year's final four squad, Willie Kemp and Robert Dozier, who scored 14 and 13 points respectively.

While the offense struggled throughout the game, the Owls improved numerically on defense, holding the Tigers shooting percentage under 45 percent.

The defense also limited number six recruit in the nation as rated by Rivals.com, Tyreke Evans, to just 5 points, well below his season and team leading average of 17 points per game.

Evans was one of four players signed in the 2008 class by head coach John Calipari, which ranked number four overall in the nation.

The Owls play Memphis just once this season, a good thing since Memphis is the heavy favorite to win the conference title.

This Owls return to action this Saturday against UAB, where they will face one of C-USA's top players in senior swingman Robert Vaden, who broke UAB's single season scoring record last year, currently averaging nearly 19 points per game.

Vaden started his career at the University of Indiana with current UAB head coach Mike Davis. During his two years at Indiana, Vaden made 60 consecutive starts, and during his sophomore year he led the team in scoring while being named an All Big Ten honorable mention.

Apart from Vaden, the Dragons have two other players averaging over fifteen points per game, which is nullified by the lack of depth on the UAB roster. Similar to the Owls situation last season, the Dragons are down to just six scholarship players due to injury.

The Owls next homestand begins Wednesday when they will face Tulane University at Tudor Fieldhouse. The Owls will be looking to avenge a 10-point loss they suffered at the hands of the Green Wave earlier in the year. Tulane (8-10, 2-3 C-USA) is coming off a 76-75 overtime win against the University of Tulsa, but they remain at the bottom end of the C-USA standings.

---