The UCF Knights are getting it done from the 3-point line under coach Johnny Dawkins
UCF Knights coach Johnny Dawkins has no problem with his players hoisting lots of 3-pointers.
Especially when they are making them at a high clip. They hit a season-high 19 in an earlier win against Florida Gulf Coast.
"I mean, we're going to put them in our system," Dawkins said "And we're going to allow them to search out what's a great shot for our team and those shots they took, for the most part, were really good shots - shots that we want in our offense and that's all I can ask for. You have a night like tonight where they made a lot of them. We have nights where we can get those same looks and then I think we were four for 30 one night. I thought we got good looks that night. They didn't go. Tonight they did. The main thing is we just take quality shots because you're going to have good and bad nights shooting the basketball. That's the one constant you have to have. Our second half was a lot better or the last minute and a half, two minutes of the first half and the second half. Our defense was back to what I wanted to see us doing."
The Knights are shooting nearly 40 percent from the arc, making 107 of 269. It has led to an 11-1 start, including a 10-game winning streak. They open conference play against the Kansas Jayhawks Jan. 3.
"It's important," Dawkins said of the 3-point shooting. "We try to devise our roster in a way where we had a good balanced offense between our perimeter guys and our post players. I think that they're getting there. Are we where we want to be? Absolutely not. We're not at that stage yet, but we're moving in the right direction. Guys are improving individually, and I think we're improving collectively as they start to continue to understand what exactly we want as a staff. Remember, these guys came in June, all of them. You're trying to mold them into one team and one unit in nine months. That's a process. You're going to have some ups and downs with that. You're going to have some good days and bad days, but throughout it all, we have to keep getting better, and that's what we're attempting to do."
Shandel Richardson is the publisher of UCFRoundtable. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com