The UCF Knights came up just short in a loss to the No. 1 Arizona Wildcats
UCF Knights coach Johnny Dawkins is at the point he's done with moral victories.
He wants and knows his team can compete against the top teams in college basketball. That was evident in the recent loss to the No. 1 Arizona Wildcats.
"The most frustrating is that we didn't win. The most encouraging is that I thought our guys fought their hearts out for 40 minutes against what I think is a great basketball team. I've seen a lot of teams this year and I was really impressed with how they play, you know, kind of an old school style of basketball. They don't shoot a lot of threes. But they know who they are and they play their strengths, and so I was really proud of our guys for the fight we showed, especially on the boards. They've been out rebounding teams by an average of 14, I think all season long and so it's the one rebound differential for us and so I thought I was really proud of our bigs, especially for, for battling."
The Knights, who have appeared in the Top 25 this season, gave the Wildcats all they could handle. This has a chance to be a very special year on the UCF campus. They are already at 14-3 this season, including a win against the Kansas Jayhawks.
Now, Dawkins wants to see the team reach the next level.
"Well, we have to continue to be better," Dawkins said. "You know, having faced them, you know, in this atmosphere, which I thought was incredible. I thought our fan base, our student section, it was awesome. They definitely gave us great energy and gave us just what we, you know, needed from them, that's for sure. So, I take from the three games that we played that every single game in the Big 12 is going to be like this, and it's just the way it is in this conference from top to bottom, and, we have to make sure we prepare appropriately. I think having gone through five games now, our players are still understanding 'OK. This is how it's going to be.' It's not going to change no matter when you're at home, on the road, you're going to play great teams. It's going to be great environments."
The Knights return to action Tuesday against the Iowa State Cyclones.
Shandel Richardson is the publisher of UCFRoundtable. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com