SB Nation Tampa Bay - UCF Battles East Carolinahttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/49019/tb-fave.png2012-01-07T23:04:37-05:00http://tampabay.sbnation.com/rss/stream/24543362012-01-07T23:04:37-05:002012-01-07T23:04:37-05:00Jeff Jordan Leaves #UCF Program
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<p>Per a <span class="caps">UCF</span> press release, back-up point guard Jeff Jordan has left the program.</p>
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<p><span class="caps">UCF</span> men’s basketball senior Jeffrey Jordan will not be returning to the team this semester.</p>
<p>“We wish Jeff nothing but the best in the future,” <span class="caps">UCF</span> head coach Donnie Jones said. “We appreciate his contributions to our program and he will always be a member of the <span class="caps">UCF</span> basketball family.”</p>
<p>“I will not be returning to the <span class="caps">UCF</span> basketball team this semester due to personal reasons,” Jordan said. “I thank coach Jones for the opportunity to be a part of the <span class="caps">UCF</span> basketball family. I wish the team and coaching staff much continued success.”</p>
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<p>This leaves the team short-handed for point guards with only A.J. Rompza and Marcus Jordan having experience running the point. The elder Jordan’s playing time had decreased in recent games and he had seen just 34 minutes over the last three minutes but those minutes provided effective rests for the starters. This leaves <span class="caps">UCF</span> with just 12 players on the active roster as C.J. Reed continues to sit out as a transfer from Bethune Cookman.</p>
https://tampabay.sbnation.com/central-florida-knights/2012/1/7/2690913/jeff-jordan-has-left-the-program-ucfJason Collette2012-01-07T19:22:03-05:002012-01-07T19:22:03-05:00Knights End Pirates' Plundering
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<p>UCF ended a four-game losing streak to East Carolina in impressive fashion dominating both sides of the court in a 81-63 victory on the road. </p> <p>The UCF Knights came to Greenville knowing that they had lost their last four matchups against the <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-basketball/teams/east-carolina-pirates" class="sbn-auto-link">East Carolina Pirates</a> dating back to the 2009-2010 season. That streak included two losses during regular season conference play and a dominating performance by East Carolina to bounce UCF out of the Conference USA Tournament. Each member of the team now gets to hop on the team bus back to the airport in Raleigh with a big smile on their face as UCF convincingly beat East Carolina 81 to 63 at the Williams Arena in Greenville, North Carolina.</p>
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<p>UCF was led in scoring by Isaiah Skyes who scored 20 points for the second time in his last four contests. Sykes was 10 of 15 shooting from the floor tonight and also added ten rebounds for his second double-double on the season and now has scored 61 points over his last four games. Three other Knights scored in double figures as <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-basketball/players/100262/marcus-jordan" class="sbn-auto-link">Marcus Jordan</a> scored 12, <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-basketball/players/100265/keith-clanton" class="sbn-auto-link">Keith Clanton</a> scored 16, as did <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-basketball/players/52805/a-j-rompza" class="sbn-auto-link">A.J. Rompza</a>. Clanton's point total made him the 15th player in school history to eclipse the 1,000 point total and the first Knight to do so since former All-American <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-basketball/players/27333/jermaine-taylor" class="sbn-auto-link">Jermaine Taylor</a>. Rompza, in addition to the 16 points, had nine assists, seven rebounds, and five steals in one of his best games as a UCF Knight.</p>
<p>The three areas where UCF won this game was in its outside shooting, its defense, and dominating the glass. UCF shot 52 percent from the field including 6 of 19 from behind the arc as East Carolina struggled to defend them in half-court sets as Sykes, Clanton, and Rompza were a combined 23 of 41 from the field. Conversely, the Knights held East Carolina to just 37 percent shooting from the floor and 7 of 23 from behind the arc while stealing eight passes. Most impressive was the Knights' rebounding efforts as they won the battle of the boards 46 to 29. This came against an East Carolina team that out-rebounded the Knights in two of the three games last season despite UCF having a size advantage with 7'1" center <a href="http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-basketball/players/26645/tom-herzog" class="sbn-auto-link">Tom Herzog</a> in the lineup.</p>
<p>The 17 rebound advantage the Knights had in this contest was a school record within conference play besting a previous best of +14 against SMU during the 2009-2010 season. UCF returns home to face Houston on Wednesday night as assistant head coach Shawn Finney looks to go a perfect 3-0 as he stands in for suspended head coach Donnie Jones.</p>
<p>Finney has used a shallow rotation schedule in both games compared to the liberal substitution habits of Jones, but one cannot argue with the results so far. UCF has won two of their last three games against Houston but that one loss was the first of nine consecutive losses for UCF last season after they opened the season 14-0. UCF has had several entertaining games against the Cougars in Orlando since the two schools became conference mates including this winning 3-point shot by current director of basketball operations Mike O'Donnell during the 2006-2007 season.</p>
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<p>UCF vs Houston 3 (via <a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=UAl0HOmpV4E">Jasrunner22</a>)</p>
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https://tampabay.sbnation.com/central-florida-knights/2012/1/7/2690459/knights-end-pirates-plunderingJason Collette2012-01-07T18:32:40-05:002012-01-07T18:32:40-05:00#UCF Holding On Down the Stretch
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<p><span class="caps">UCF</span> has been up by as many as 22 points in the second half but currently holds a 64-51 lead with seven minutes remaining in the contest. Missouri transfer MIguel Paul has been a one-man wrecking crew for the Pirates as he has 21 points on the contest but has also taken some out of control shots at inopportune moments that <span class="caps">UCF</span> has taken the other way to convert into points.</p>
<p>East Carolina is already in the double-bonus as the Knights have been foul-prone in the second half. Josh Crittle has four fouls and Dwight McCombs has three fouls on the inside. <span class="caps">UCF</span> has also continued its one to one assist to turnover ratio as it has had struggles with the East Carolina pressure in this half.</p>
https://tampabay.sbnation.com/central-florida-knights/2012/1/7/2690430/holding-on-down-the-stretch-ucfJason Collette2012-01-07T18:09:13-05:002012-01-07T18:09:13-05:00A.J. Rompza Stealing the Show
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<p>A.J. Rompza is putting on an impressive show in this game in just his third game back on the season. He is a perfect 6 of 6 from the floor, has hit all three of his 3-point attempts, while chipping in six assists, five rebounds, and three steals. He leads all scorers with 16 points as <span class="caps">UCF</span> leads East Carolina 51-35 with just over 13 minutes left in the game.</p>
https://tampabay.sbnation.com/central-florida-knights/2012/1/7/2690384/aj3rompza-stealing-the-showJason Collette2012-01-07T17:49:58-05:002012-01-07T17:49:58-05:00Knights Up Seven at Half
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<p><span class="caps">UCF</span> goes into the half up 38 to 31. The Knights had stretched their lead out to 13 points with 1:39 left but back to back 3-point shots by Miguel Paul narrowed the gap to seven and <span class="caps">UCF</span> was unable to convert its final two shot attempts before the half.</p>
<p><span class="caps">UCF</span> shot 50 percent from the floor in the first half while out-rebounding East Carolina 22-12 so far. A.J. Rompza leads all scorers with 14 points and has dished out five assist. Isaiah Sykes has ten points and five rebounds on the game. Keith Clanton and Marcus Jordan are struggling going 3 of 10 from the floor with a couple of airballs on forced shot attempts. Clanton is battling a flu bug but has still been on the floor for most of the game.</p>
<p>In an otherwise impressive half of play, one criticism of UCF’s play was carelessness with the ball. The Knights have to control the ball better in the second half as they committed as many turnovers, seven, as they had assists in the first half. Nobody is in any foul trouble as there were only ten fouls called in the entire half and nobody on <span class="caps">UCF</span> has more than one foul.</p>
https://tampabay.sbnation.com/central-florida-knights/2012/1/7/2690343/knights-up-seven-at-half-ucfJason Collette2012-01-07T17:39:25-05:002012-01-07T17:39:25-05:00Impressive All-Around Effort In First Half
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<p><span class="caps">UCF</span> is hoping to end a four-game losing streak against East Carolina that dates back to the 2009-2010 season. <span class="caps">UCF</span> has played spirited basketball on both ends of the floor and currently holds a 33-25 lead at East Carolina. The team is shooting 55 percent from the floor but a new scoring duo has emerged.</p>
<p>For most of the season, <span class="caps">UCF</span> has been led in scoring by Marcus Jordan and Keith Clanton but that pair only has eight points so far while A.J. Rompza and Isaiah Sykes are carrying the team so far with 24 points on 10 of 12 shooting. <span class="caps">UCF</span> also enjoys a nine rebound advantage on the glass and have blocked four shots so far.</p>
<p>Free throw shooting has been a rare site so far with the Knights hitting most of their outside shots and having their way on the inside but have hit just 1 of 4 free throws so far.</p>
https://tampabay.sbnation.com/central-florida-knights/2012/1/7/2690316/impressive-all-around-effort-in-first-half-ucfJason Collette2012-01-07T17:30:40-05:002012-01-07T17:30:40-05:00UCF Battles East Carolina
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<p>The UCF Knights try to end East Carolina's run of success against the Knights as UCF goes on the road for their first Conference USA road game of the season.</p> <p>One of the downsides of UCF leaving Conference USA will be losing its budding rivalry with East Carolina. The two schools have had a spirited rivalry in the Eastern division of the conference in all sports and the PIrates have had the better end of the basketball rivalry of late including wins in all three matchups last season.</p>
<p>UCF travels up to Greenville today to try to end that losing streak to ECU but will be without the services of backup point guard Jeff Jordan who is not with the team due to personal reasons today. </p>
https://tampabay.sbnation.com/central-florida-knights/2012/1/7/2690277/ucf-battles-east-carolinaJason Collette