Written by Adrian Beecher
Houston, TX - Damyean Dotson had a career night for Houston as his 31 points, and seven triples led the Cougars to a dominating 82-64 win over UCF at the historic Hofheinz Pavilion. It was a close one early on with it just being a two-score game at the half, but foul trouble for UCF’s Tacko Fall and turnovers were the catalyst for the Knights in the end. Here’s how it all went down.
The Knights won the tip, and Tacko Fall got things started for them with a dunk to set the tone. After Danrad Knowles had hit one of two from the line for Houston, Matt Williams hit his first triple of the night for UCF to make it 5-1. Then two quick baskets from Houston tied it up before Matt Williams hit his 2nd triple.
On the ensuing Knights possession, UCF’s Tacko Fall was called for a flagrant 1 foul for elbowing Houston’s Bertrand Nkali in the jaw, not intentionally, in any case. However, after Nkali hit both of his free throws, it started a 7-0 run by the Cougars as they took their first lead of the game. With 12:57 left in the first half it was 12-8 Houston as UCF missed 5 straight shot attempts.
Then a flagrant 1 was called on Rob Gray of Houston, putting Nick Banyard at the line shooting two. He was able to hit one of two as the Knights cut it to a 3-point deficit. Then Damyean Dotson hit a triple to make it 15-9, giving the Coogs their biggest lead of the game to this point at 6.
Chad Brown was then able to get things going again for the Knights with a basket and an and 1 that he was able to capitalize off of. This made it 15-12 with the Cougars on top. Then Dotson again hit from downtown to make it 18-12. Over a 5 and a half-minute period starting with 15:19 left in the 1st half, Dotson put in 13 straight points for Houston. This made it 20-15 Houston with 9:33 left in the first half.
Then the tempo picked up, with BJ Taylor for UCF and Galen Robinson Jr. for Houston trading jumpers. Matt Williams again hit from downtown to make it 22-20 with Houston still on top. Then Houston was able to extend their lead to 6 with 4:53 left in the first half.
UCF then got things going with a 7-0 run to regain the lead at 27-26 with a 4th triple from Matt Williams. Houston was able to respond, and Robinson immediately gave the Coogs the lead back with 2:41 left to play on a jumper. UCF was able to tie it back up, but Houston took a 32-30 lead into the locker room at the half.
Houston’s Daymean Dotson lead the way in the first half for Houston with 15 points, while it was Matt Williams for the Knights with 15 points as well. The two were dominant from beyond the arc with 7 combined triples, 4 from Williams and 3 from Dotson.
Williams continued his scoring barrage in the 2nd half with a quick jumper to tie the game up at 32. Then the Cougars answered with a triple from Galen Robinson Jr. to regain the lead. Tacko Fall would then slam home a dunk before the Cougars started to pull away from the Knights.
Houston then went on a 9-2 scoring run to take a 44-36 lead with 15:15 left to play in the 2nd half. The run was helped by two back-to-back triples from Damyean Dotson. After BJ Taylor hit a jumper to make it a 6 point game at 46-40, Houston again was able to work from behind the arc, this time it was Wes Vanbeck to make it 49-40. After a free throw and another triple from Dotson, the Coogs led 53-40 with 12:21 left to play.
UCF would continue to fight back as BJ Taylor hit a triple and Matt Williams added a jumper to cut it to just an 8 point deficit with 11:07 left in the game. However, then Dotson hit his 7th triple of the game, and Wes Vanbeck followed it up with a jumper for the Coogs to again extend their lead back to 13. Williams would answer for UCF with his 5th triple of the game to make it 58-48 with Houston still leading and 8:48 left to play. Then things got out of hand.
Houston went on an 8-0 scoring run that was capped with two triples, one from Rob Gray and one from Wes Vanbeck. This made it 66-48 with 6:37 left to play. AJ Davis was able to halt the run with two free throws to cut it to a 16-point game with 5:15 left to play.
Despite their efforts, the Knights weren’t able to close the gap down the stretch. The closest they would get was 13 points, which came with 2:45 left in regulation on a layup and free throw after a foul on the shot from BJ Taylor.
After that, it was none other than Damyean Dotson hitting a layup and then on the Coogs next possession hitting two free throws to extend the lead back to 17 for Houston with 2:17 left on the clock. As the final buzzer sounded, it was an 82-64 victory for the Cougars over UCF.
In the end it was a career night for redshirt senior Damyean Dotson as he finished with a career-high 31 points and a career high 3-point buckets with 7. He finished the night making 11 of 16 shots, including 7 of 12 from downtown.
UCF’s leader on the court was once again Matt Williams, who finished with 26 points and made 5 triples. However, it was not nearly enough to overcome another dismal performance in the turnover category for UCF. The Knights finished with 14 turnovers, to just 7 from Houston.
Despite a 4 game losing streak, all is nowhere near lost for UCF. They have a solid 14-8 record and anything can happen in the AAC tournament. Knights head coach Johnny Dawkins said after the game that the message to the team is to focus on getting things fixed and staying together as a team.
“We’re still going to be a most together group. That’s what we tried to establish when we came here, we’re going to be a together group. We’re not going to make excuses, and we’re not going to have alibis. We’re just going to figure out how to get better and figure out how we’re gonna win. So we said that’s who we are. In the meeting after the game, I said hey look, no excuses, no alibis. So we have to find a way to get it done, and we have to find a way to get it done together.” said Dawkins.
After playing their last two games on the road, UCF will now head back home for a tough matchup against Memphis (16-6), who is 4th in the conference right now. In the last matchup between these two, it went down to the wire, with Memphis outlasting UCF 70-65 in Memphis. Tipoff is set for 5 pm EST Saturday, February 4th on ESPN News at CFE Arena in Orlando.
The Knights won the tip, and Tacko Fall got things started for them with a dunk to set the tone. After Danrad Knowles had hit one of two from the line for Houston, Matt Williams hit his first triple of the night for UCF to make it 5-1. Then two quick baskets from Houston tied it up before Matt Williams hit his 2nd triple.
On the ensuing Knights possession, UCF’s Tacko Fall was called for a flagrant 1 foul for elbowing Houston’s Bertrand Nkali in the jaw, not intentionally, in any case. However, after Nkali hit both of his free throws, it started a 7-0 run by the Cougars as they took their first lead of the game. With 12:57 left in the first half it was 12-8 Houston as UCF missed 5 straight shot attempts.
Then a flagrant 1 was called on Rob Gray of Houston, putting Nick Banyard at the line shooting two. He was able to hit one of two as the Knights cut it to a 3-point deficit. Then Damyean Dotson hit a triple to make it 15-9, giving the Coogs their biggest lead of the game to this point at 6.
Chad Brown was then able to get things going again for the Knights with a basket and an and 1 that he was able to capitalize off of. This made it 15-12 with the Cougars on top. Then Dotson again hit from downtown to make it 18-12. Over a 5 and a half-minute period starting with 15:19 left in the 1st half, Dotson put in 13 straight points for Houston. This made it 20-15 Houston with 9:33 left in the first half.
Then the tempo picked up, with BJ Taylor for UCF and Galen Robinson Jr. for Houston trading jumpers. Matt Williams again hit from downtown to make it 22-20 with Houston still on top. Then Houston was able to extend their lead to 6 with 4:53 left in the first half.
UCF then got things going with a 7-0 run to regain the lead at 27-26 with a 4th triple from Matt Williams. Houston was able to respond, and Robinson immediately gave the Coogs the lead back with 2:41 left to play on a jumper. UCF was able to tie it back up, but Houston took a 32-30 lead into the locker room at the half.
Houston’s Daymean Dotson lead the way in the first half for Houston with 15 points, while it was Matt Williams for the Knights with 15 points as well. The two were dominant from beyond the arc with 7 combined triples, 4 from Williams and 3 from Dotson.
Williams continued his scoring barrage in the 2nd half with a quick jumper to tie the game up at 32. Then the Cougars answered with a triple from Galen Robinson Jr. to regain the lead. Tacko Fall would then slam home a dunk before the Cougars started to pull away from the Knights.
Houston then went on a 9-2 scoring run to take a 44-36 lead with 15:15 left to play in the 2nd half. The run was helped by two back-to-back triples from Damyean Dotson. After BJ Taylor hit a jumper to make it a 6 point game at 46-40, Houston again was able to work from behind the arc, this time it was Wes Vanbeck to make it 49-40. After a free throw and another triple from Dotson, the Coogs led 53-40 with 12:21 left to play.
UCF would continue to fight back as BJ Taylor hit a triple and Matt Williams added a jumper to cut it to just an 8 point deficit with 11:07 left in the game. However, then Dotson hit his 7th triple of the game, and Wes Vanbeck followed it up with a jumper for the Coogs to again extend their lead back to 13. Williams would answer for UCF with his 5th triple of the game to make it 58-48 with Houston still leading and 8:48 left to play. Then things got out of hand.
Houston went on an 8-0 scoring run that was capped with two triples, one from Rob Gray and one from Wes Vanbeck. This made it 66-48 with 6:37 left to play. AJ Davis was able to halt the run with two free throws to cut it to a 16-point game with 5:15 left to play.
Despite their efforts, the Knights weren’t able to close the gap down the stretch. The closest they would get was 13 points, which came with 2:45 left in regulation on a layup and free throw after a foul on the shot from BJ Taylor.
After that, it was none other than Damyean Dotson hitting a layup and then on the Coogs next possession hitting two free throws to extend the lead back to 17 for Houston with 2:17 left on the clock. As the final buzzer sounded, it was an 82-64 victory for the Cougars over UCF.
In the end it was a career night for redshirt senior Damyean Dotson as he finished with a career-high 31 points and a career high 3-point buckets with 7. He finished the night making 11 of 16 shots, including 7 of 12 from downtown.
UCF’s leader on the court was once again Matt Williams, who finished with 26 points and made 5 triples. However, it was not nearly enough to overcome another dismal performance in the turnover category for UCF. The Knights finished with 14 turnovers, to just 7 from Houston.
Despite a 4 game losing streak, all is nowhere near lost for UCF. They have a solid 14-8 record and anything can happen in the AAC tournament. Knights head coach Johnny Dawkins said after the game that the message to the team is to focus on getting things fixed and staying together as a team.
“We’re still going to be a most together group. That’s what we tried to establish when we came here, we’re going to be a together group. We’re not going to make excuses, and we’re not going to have alibis. We’re just going to figure out how to get better and figure out how we’re gonna win. So we said that’s who we are. In the meeting after the game, I said hey look, no excuses, no alibis. So we have to find a way to get it done, and we have to find a way to get it done together.” said Dawkins.
After playing their last two games on the road, UCF will now head back home for a tough matchup against Memphis (16-6), who is 4th in the conference right now. In the last matchup between these two, it went down to the wire, with Memphis outlasting UCF 70-65 in Memphis. Tipoff is set for 5 pm EST Saturday, February 4th on ESPN News at CFE Arena in Orlando.