Written by Adrian Beecher
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Orlando, FL - A record night for Matt Williams with 11 triples and a career high 38 points, led the UCF Knights to an 86-64 win over USF in the first basketball installment of the War on I-4. The 11 triples were a UCF record and an American Athletic Conference record, and he finished just 4 threes away from tying the NCAA record of 15.
Here’s how it all went down from CFE Arena in Oviedo in front of 5,765 fans.
A.J. Davis started off the scoring for the Knights with the first bucket. This was just the start of a quick 7-0 run before USF got their first bucket of the night, which was a jumper from Troy Holston.
Then things started to heat up with back to back triples from Matt Williams for UCF to make it 16-6 with 14:36 left in the 1st half. Williams was not done there; in fact, Williams was leading all scorers with 14 points in the first 7 minutes and 30 seconds of the game. Of those 14 points, 12 came from three-pointers, just the start of a record night for Williams.
After a couple more baskets by UCF, the Knights went on 10-0 run over 5 minutes and 4 seconds, which was ended by a layup from USF’s Malik Fitts with 6:25 left in the half. A triple from Bulls guard Geno Thorpe would cut the deficit to 12 with 5:18 on the clock and the Knights leading 31-19.
With 3:33 left in the 1st half, the Bulls had clawed their way back into the game making it an 8-point deficit on a layup from Bo Ziegler. However, by halftime, Matt Williams 20 points and 6 triples had UCF out in front 42-30.
UCF continued in the 2nd where they left off in the 1st, opening the 2nd half with a 12-5 run to make it 54-35 with 15:55 left on the clock. As a part of that series, Matt Williams added two triples to tie the UCF 3-pt record at 8 threes, while breaking his career high scoring mark which at the time sat at 26.
Williams continued to have the hot hand and with 14:34 left in the game, broke the UCF 3 point record in a game with his 9th triple. Then a minute later he added a 10th 3 pointer to give the Knights a 60-37 lead with 13:15 left to play.
UCF records alone were not enough for Williams and with 7:18 left in regulation, Williams added a triple to break the American Athletic conference record with 11 triples. At this point, UCF was leading 73-50 and would dominate throughout the rest of the game. The Bulls would only be able to cut it to a 22-point game ahead of the final buzzer with a triple from Michael Bibby for the Bulls.
After the game Williams gave all the credit to his teammates, “All the credit goes to my teammates. They’re my biggest motivators in practice, working out, just anything. They’re always telling me to keep shooting.”
Head coach Johnny Dawkins likened William’s performance to one of the Duke greats, “J.J. Reddick, I was fortunate to coach J.J. for four years and Matt has had those moments for us in practice and in several games, its great to see. Very rarely do you find a guy that can shoot that well and that deep.”
In addition to Matt Williams 38 points, UCF forward A.J. Davis added a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds. For USF it was Geno Thorpe and Troy Holston combining for 38 points.
Here’s how it all went down from CFE Arena in Oviedo in front of 5,765 fans.
A.J. Davis started off the scoring for the Knights with the first bucket. This was just the start of a quick 7-0 run before USF got their first bucket of the night, which was a jumper from Troy Holston.
Then things started to heat up with back to back triples from Matt Williams for UCF to make it 16-6 with 14:36 left in the 1st half. Williams was not done there; in fact, Williams was leading all scorers with 14 points in the first 7 minutes and 30 seconds of the game. Of those 14 points, 12 came from three-pointers, just the start of a record night for Williams.
After a couple more baskets by UCF, the Knights went on 10-0 run over 5 minutes and 4 seconds, which was ended by a layup from USF’s Malik Fitts with 6:25 left in the half. A triple from Bulls guard Geno Thorpe would cut the deficit to 12 with 5:18 on the clock and the Knights leading 31-19.
With 3:33 left in the 1st half, the Bulls had clawed their way back into the game making it an 8-point deficit on a layup from Bo Ziegler. However, by halftime, Matt Williams 20 points and 6 triples had UCF out in front 42-30.
UCF continued in the 2nd where they left off in the 1st, opening the 2nd half with a 12-5 run to make it 54-35 with 15:55 left on the clock. As a part of that series, Matt Williams added two triples to tie the UCF 3-pt record at 8 threes, while breaking his career high scoring mark which at the time sat at 26.
Williams continued to have the hot hand and with 14:34 left in the game, broke the UCF 3 point record in a game with his 9th triple. Then a minute later he added a 10th 3 pointer to give the Knights a 60-37 lead with 13:15 left to play.
UCF records alone were not enough for Williams and with 7:18 left in regulation, Williams added a triple to break the American Athletic conference record with 11 triples. At this point, UCF was leading 73-50 and would dominate throughout the rest of the game. The Bulls would only be able to cut it to a 22-point game ahead of the final buzzer with a triple from Michael Bibby for the Bulls.
After the game Williams gave all the credit to his teammates, “All the credit goes to my teammates. They’re my biggest motivators in practice, working out, just anything. They’re always telling me to keep shooting.”
Head coach Johnny Dawkins likened William’s performance to one of the Duke greats, “J.J. Reddick, I was fortunate to coach J.J. for four years and Matt has had those moments for us in practice and in several games, its great to see. Very rarely do you find a guy that can shoot that well and that deep.”
In addition to Matt Williams 38 points, UCF forward A.J. Davis added a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds. For USF it was Geno Thorpe and Troy Holston combining for 38 points.