Knights open the regular season 3-0

Photo courtesy of Aryah Britt

Fans seemed to put up three fingers every time senior guard Carmelo Pacheco pulled from beyond the arc in UCF’s 76-69 win over South Alabama at Addition Financial Arena on Tuesday night.

The long-range weapon recorded a career-high eight 3-pointers and a season-high 24 points.

“All the credit goes to my teammates,” Pacheco said. “They find me in practice every day, they’re always encouraging me to shoot even when I’m not shooting the ball.”

“I thought Melo was huge to end the first half and throughout most of the second,” head coach Johnny Dawkins said of the standout performance. “You combine him with Dior out there versus zone, we know we’re going to move the basketball to find those guys and get good looks.”

Pacheco’s team-leading eight 3-pointers were a large fraction of the team’s season-high 17 3-pointers on the night.

Redshirt senior guard Dior Johnson also continued his hot streak to open the season, tallying 24 points, four 3-pointers, and nine assists. The performance also marked Johnson’s seventh consecutive game scoring 20 points or more.

“You have to make any adjustments in any sport you play,” Johnson said. “I feel like this team shows a good effort by coming out the second half being strong, having a will to win, and figuring things out.”

The victory also marked the first ever for the Knights against the Jaguars and extended their non-conference winning streak to 13 straight.

The first half was not an ideal start for the Knights.

Although the Knights (3-0, 0-0 Big 12) struck first, it was evident that, with a 24-16 deficit and around seven and a half minutes to go in the half, the Jaguars (1-2, 0-0 SBC) had gotten the better of them.

UCF struggled to compete in the paint in the opening 20 minutes, outscored 18-2 and outrebounded 22-16. The struggles in the paint forced the Knights to play around the zone, where they finished the half shooting 8-for-19 from the 3-point range.

Despite the one-sided stat sheet, four 3-pointers from Pacheco in the final seven minutes of the half cut down the Knights’ deficit to 34-32 heading into halftime.

Dawkins, for the third straight game in the regular season, credited his group’s determination to come out with a victory after trailing at the half.

“We didn’t play the best of first halves,” he said. “We’ve shown an amazing will to win in each one of the games, and they’ve given us an opportunity at the end to be able to win the game. That’s what it’s really about.”

The Jaguars opened the half by striking first; however, Johnson got the Knights on the board after a 3-pointer to keep the deficit manageable.

After trailing since 15:07 in the first half, the Knights took their second lead of the game on another Pacheco 3-pointer, giving them a 38-37 advantage with 16:35 left in the contest. Just 30 seconds later, he found the basket from deep again.

Once the Knights took the lead, they did not look back, extending their lead to double digits at 57-47 with 11:32 left on the clock.

With just under three minutes to go, the lead grew to 12 points as UCF took full command, holding a 72-60 advantage.

The Knights capitalized, converting seven South Alabama turnovers into 14 points in their dominant 44-35 second half.

UCF finished 45% from the field, shooting 25-for-55 on the floor and 17-for-38 from the 3-point range.

Dawkins credited South Alabama’s stingy zone defense with playing a large role in stifling the Knights’ interior attack.

“I’ve watched [South Alabama] play over the years and they’ve done a really good job and won 21 games last year,” he said. “They knock off a lot of teams because they’re so unorthodox. They’re not playing the cookie-cutter man-to-man defense.”

The Knights were outrebounded 36-29 on the night in their matchup against Yale last Friday; they secured 39 total rebounds, outrebounding the Bulldogs’ 34.

New Orleans transfer and senior forward/center Churchill Abass led the team with eight rebounds, including three on the offensive.

“We have to rebound the ball better,” Dawkins said. “I thought we did a good job versus Yale, who was a very good rebounding team, and then we come in tonight against another good rebounding team, and we didn’t rebound as well.”

On the other side of the court, South Alabama guard Aaron Goldstein led the charge with 20 points, and forward Stephen Williams led the team in rebounds with 11.

UCF will remain at home in Addition Financial Arena once again against the Georgia Southern Eagles (1-2, 0-0 SBC) for a Friday night tilt at 8 p.m.