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00:00 Yeah, huge credit to Central Florida and Coach Dawkins.
00:04 They had their guys ready to play.
00:06 And they played with a heck of a lot more discipline
00:10 than we did tonight.
00:11 You know, I told our guys before the game
00:14 it was gonna be a physical battle.
00:15 And winning on the road in this league,
00:19 you gotta have a lot of discipline.
00:21 And, you know, with the physicality in which they play,
00:25 we can't just put our head down
00:27 and, you know, try to go through people.
00:29 We gotta share the ball.
00:30 We didn't have the discipline to execute our game plan,
00:33 but credit to Central Florida and Coach Dawkins
00:35 and how he prepared his team and prepared them to win.
00:39 - Questions, please.
00:41 - Talk about the discipline that UCF had.
00:48 What does it say about them and their defense
00:51 to be able to kind of hold teams down
00:52 the way they have in their first year in the conference?
00:55 - Yeah, they've done an excellent job.
00:56 I mean, they're right up there
00:57 with anybody else in our league
00:59 in terms of their physicality and the way they play
01:03 and the way they're locked in defensively.
01:04 So, you know, I know in the past
01:07 they've had struggles to score on the offense fan.
01:10 They sure didn't have many struggles against us today
01:13 by any means, but they scored the ball well and efficiently
01:16 and they were the aggressors from the jump.
01:20 And typically, you know, the aggressors get the call,
01:23 the aggressors get the benefit of the doubt,
01:24 and that's the way it played out tonight.
01:27 - A small number of turnovers,
01:28 but the Knights did a better job of capitalizing.
01:30 - Yeah, they were going downhill.
01:31 I mean, they were going downhill.
01:33 24 fast break points to six.
01:35 It's a pretty alarming stat.
01:37 So, yeah, they took advantage.
01:39 Every time they got a run out,
01:42 they took advantage and they converted.
01:44 So, yeah, 24 to six, it's a hard one to overcome.
01:49 - Coach, first time you guys have come down here
01:50 to play UCF with them being a member of the Big 12.
01:53 What did you think of the atmosphere tonight
01:55 and just everything that the team brought?
01:57 - No, it was great.
01:58 It was a great, great energy in the building.
02:00 Students were, you know,
02:02 they were locked in from the beginning.
02:04 It was a good atmosphere.
02:05 Just looks like they fit in just real well with the Big 12
02:09 and those home venues in the Big 12
02:11 and that home court advantage.
02:13 - Raekwon Battle came in averaging close to 20 a game.
02:15 I know he seemed like he was kind of limited
02:17 in the first half, took a hard hit.
02:19 What happened tonight, obviously before he got ejected,
02:21 but why was it difficult for him tonight to get going?
02:23 - He got frustrated.
02:24 I mean, they were putting a lot of pressure on him
02:26 and doing everything he could.
02:27 They did an excellent job taking him away,
02:29 but, you know, that's gonna happen in this league.
02:31 And especially, you know, the one thing he did do well
02:35 is he shared the ball.
02:36 It looks like, you know, he had,
02:39 well, I'm looking at the wrong guy,
02:42 but he was frustrated.
02:43 He was frustrated in a lot of ways.
02:46 And he just got to, you know,
02:49 you know, take that frustration
02:51 and realize that he's pulling a lot of defense
02:53 and we got to get the ball moved
02:54 and take care of it on the turn
02:57 and get somebody else involved in the offense.
02:59 - This season, UCF has struggled
03:01 getting started early on offense,
03:03 but showing from the stats, they never trailed this game.
03:05 How hard was it to fight back
03:07 after UCF got off to a good start?
03:09 - Yeah, I mean, we couldn't get any momentum.
03:12 You know, we were trying to chip away here and there,
03:15 but we just couldn't find that, you know,
03:18 just some of these games, you get down 10 plus,
03:21 you try to, you know, just grind them out of it.
03:23 You know, one play at a time and we couldn't,
03:26 every time we did score, it seems like they hadn't answered
03:29 and we didn't convert on the other end.
03:32 So, a little too late, turned on the pressure
03:36 and tried to get back in that.
03:38 Just, you know, we probably cut it.
03:42 One that was the largest lead there, you know,
03:46 it was in the 20s, but regardless,
03:48 we battled there at the end and made it hard.
03:51 And that's all I can ask of our guys.
03:53 You know, at the end, you know, we never quit.
03:55 Just continue to fight to the bitter end.
03:58 - Coach, you've been around Big 12 basketball
04:01 for a very long time.
04:02 What would you say it takes to succeed
04:05 in this conference in basketball?
04:06 And did UCF exhibit any of those characteristics tonight?
04:09 - Well, first and foremost, you take care of home court.
04:13 That's, you know, we've both said for years,
04:16 you have a chance to win this league
04:17 if you hold serve on your home court
04:19 and defend your home turf.
04:21 And then if you can split on the road,
04:23 you have a heck of a chance.
04:25 But you gotta have a short memory.
04:28 You know, you lose a game, you can't, you know,
04:32 hold onto that, you gotta turn the page.
04:34 You know, these games come at you fast.
04:36 So you gotta game plan and get ready for the next one.
04:38 Have a short memory.
04:39 So you learn what you can learn from the previous game,
04:43 but turn the page quick.
04:44 You can't hang your head or, you know,
04:46 if you drop a tough one.
04:48 - What stands out most to you
04:49 about UCF's defense in this one?
04:51 - Just their physicality.
04:52 You know, their size and strength at every position.
04:57 It makes it hard for guys going downhill.
04:59 You know, it's a physical game out there.
05:02 And we didn't have, we didn't create a lot of advantages.
05:05 So, you know, we told the guys, you know, prior to the game,
05:08 we gotta do a better job with shot fakes and pump fakes.
05:11 And they got two really good erasers down there
05:14 that we didn't capitalize.
05:16 You know, a lot of times you can get those guys up
05:18 and make the right play.
05:20 Probably kickouts probably just as good as anything,
05:22 but they do a heck of a job protecting the rim.
05:26 - How did losing Raekwon late in the game
05:28 affect your guys' play at the end?
05:30 - At that point, I mean, I think those guys that came in
05:33 and replaced him did just as good as anything.
05:35 So I don't know that it would affect us
05:38 in one way or another.
05:39 - One of the household names so far this year for UCF
05:42 is Ibrahim Edialo.
05:43 He leads the Big 12 in blocks per game.
05:44 He had 14 points tonight, 12 rebounds in three blocks.
05:47 How hard is it to penetrate the paint with him
05:50 just his presence and all that he does, rebounding the ball?
05:54 - Yeah, he's a presence down there for sure.
05:57 And then the fact that he, you know, big like that,
06:00 knocks down six free throws, six for six from the line.
06:03 You know, he was as good as I've seen him
06:05 on tape at any game.
06:06 So he was very effective for-
06:09 - Jesse Edwards, is he getting closer
06:11 to suiting back up for you guys?
06:12 - Yeah, we're getting closer, getting closer.
06:13 We just have to make sure he's in, you know,
06:17 we don't do wrong by him.
06:18 And it's a bigger picture for Jesse.
06:21 We got to make sure that he's a 100%
06:24 before we throw him out there.
06:25 I don't want to have any setbacks with him.
06:28 - Coach, thank you.
06:28 - Thank you.
06:29 - Thank you, coach.