National Basketball Association
Central Florida 68, Connecticut 63
When: 2:00 PM ET, Friday, November 25, 2011
Where: Imperial Arena, Nassau
Officials:
# Terry Davis, # Doug Simmons, # Mike Stuart
Attendance:
N/A
By SportsDirect Inc.
Central Florida picked up perhaps the biggest win in its program’s history Friday, knocking off defending national champion Connecticut 68-63.
The No. 4 Huskies had a national-best 16-game winning streak snapped that dated back to the beginning of last season’s Big East tournament. It also marked the highest-ranked opponent to ever lose to the Golden Knights (4-1, 0-0 Conference USA).
UCF advances to face either Harvard or Florida State for the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament title on Saturday at 4:30 p.m.
Marcus Jordan and Keith Clanton each scored 20 points and led UCF on a huge rally in the second half. Connecticut led by as many as 17 points at one juncture of the second half and still held a 57-52 lead with less than eight minutes to go. UCF outscored UConn 16-4 the rest of the way, taking the lead on two free throws by Jordan with three minutes left and never relinquishing it.
Jordan also had seven rebounds and seven assists. Isaiah Sykes contributed 10 points, including two big buckets in the final minutes.
Jeremy Lamb paced UConn (5-1, 0-0 Big East) with 15 points. Alex Oriakhi added 14 points and Andre Drummond scored 13. UConn struggled badly with its outside shot, making only 2 of 18 3-pointers, and attempted as many free throws (11-of-17) as UCF made. The Knights went 17-of-21 at the stripe.
Top Game Performances
| Central Florida |
|
Connecticut |
|
Keith Clanton 20 |
Scoring |
Jeremy Lamb 15 |
|
Marcus Jordan 7 |
Assists |
Shabazz Napier 5 |
|
Marcus Jordan 7 |
Rebounds |
Alex Oriakhi 10 |
|
Marcus Jordan 6 |
Free Throws Made |
Alex Oriakhi 4 |
|
Keith Clanton 2 |
Steals |
Jeremy Lamb 2 |
|
Keith Clanton 1 |
Blocks |
Alex Oriakhi 5 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Central Florida
|
68 |
40.0 |
7-17 |
17-21 |
10 |
27 |
3 |
6 |
7 |
| Connecticut
|
63 |
42.4 |
2-18 |
11-17 |
7 |
36 |
10 |
3 |
11 |