Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Knights to host physical No. 3 Houston
UCF men’s basketball is riding a two-game losing streak and the road ahead won’t get any easier for Johnny Dawkins’ squad.
The Knights’ next three games come against teams inside the top 4 in the American Athletic Conference standings.
UCF (13-6, 4-3 AAC) hosts the No. 3 team in the country Wednesday night when the Houston Cougars travel to Addition Financial Arena.
Houston (18-2, 6-1) previously sat atop the AP Top 25 poll but fell two spots after its second loss this past weekend to Temple, UCF’s opponent Saturday.
After the Knights face Temple (12-9, 6-2), they’ll travel to Cincinnati for the first of two meetings in February. The Bearcats (14-7, 5-3) make their way to Orlando on Feb. 19.
UCF was competitive in a 71-65 loss at Houston on Dec. 31.
“They’re a very good basketball team, and they’re playing very well,” Dawkins said about the Cougars. “They’re going to bring a lot of energy and physicality to the game.”
Although UCF only lost by 6 points in the first meeting with the Cougars, a lot has changed.
Point guard Darius Johnson hasn’t played since Jan. 4 due to a lower leg injury suffered at East Carolina and forward Michael Durr has been out for more than two weeks with a lefthand injury.
Both started against Houston and played significant minutes — 38 for Johnson and 33 for Durr.
Johnson led the team with 17 points to go with 8 rebounds and 4 assists while Durr added 5 points, 9 rebounds and 2 blocks.
Since Johnson went down, junior college transfer Jayhlon Young has taken his place just as he did to open the season when the starter dealt with a different leg injury.
Finding an answer to fill in for the 7-foot Durr hasn’t been as easy. UCF has rotated 6-foot-10 forward Lahat Thioune and 6-foot-11 center
Thierno Sylla at the 5 while sometimes shifting 6-foot-9 forward Taylor Hendricks there as well.
Speaking with 96.9 The Game on Monday night, Dawkins provided an update on Durr and Johnson.
“Michael, because of his hand injury, it’s going to be a lengthier process for him but he’ll get back and he’ll complete the year out,” Dawkins told the radio station.
“Darius is getting close,” he added. “He’s day-to-day for us but he’s closer. He’s doing more every day. He did more today than he did a few days ago. We see the signs of him getting back sooner rather than later, which is good.”
Regardless of who plays, the prospect of upsetting Houston already is an uphill battle.
Houston is the top-ranked team in the nation in scoring defense at 53.4 points per game, second in fieldgoal percentage defense at 34.2 and first in scoring margin at plus-21.7 per contest.
“They’re a team you have to defend well and then you also have to complement your defense,” Dawkins said. “They do such a good job of making it hard for you that you have to find a way to be poised offensively and execute what you want.
“Defensively, you have to really be locked in because they have a lot of weapons and they’re playing really good basketball at the moment.”
A loss to Houston would drop UCF to a .500 record in league play. While a win would be crucial to building his team’s NCAA tournament resume, Dawkins said there are a lot of games to be played in the AAC with Selection Sunday less than 50 days away.
“It’s still a long race,” he said. “There are going to be a lot of ups and downs for this conference. We’re not halfway through conference play so we just need to try to win every game that’s in front of us and not think about where we stand.”