ORLANDO, Fla. — The UCF basketball team has to figure it left plenty of opportunities on the floor at Addition Arena after falling 63-54 to No. 6 Houston.
Unforced turnovers, missed free throws and an eight-minute scoreless stretch in the second half proved to be the Knights’ undoing as they let the Cougars escape after fighting to a 25-25 halftime draw.
Darius Perry and Brandon Mahan led UCF with 13 points apiece and Darin Green Jr. added 12. Houston’s Marcus Sasser led all scorers with 19 points.
The Knights only made 2 of 13 3-pointers and hit just 8 of 24 field goals in the second half.
The game started out promising for the Knights.
UCF (3-2, 1-1 in AAC play) jumped out to a 10-point lead in the first half and it probably should have been much worse. Houston missed 10 consecutive field goals after opening the game with a 3-0 lead, but UCF turnovers kept the Knights from building up a bigger margin against the Cougars.
UCF had nine first-half turnovers, most of which were unforced, and unbeaten Houston (7-0) was able to stay close enough to get back in the game. Coupled with turnovers, the Knights went cold offensively and the Cougars took advantage.
The Knights went nearly 10 minutes without a field goal and Houston eventually outscored UCF 14-1 to take the lead at 17-15. The teams battled back and forth to end the first half in a 25-25 tie.
UCF played solid defense in the opening half, limiting Houston, which came in averaging 77 points a game, to well below its usual offensive output.
It’s easy to look at the first half as a missed opportunity for UCF. If it wasn’t turnovers proving costly for the Knights, it was the Knights’ struggles at the free-throw line (7 of 10) and missed 3-pointers (1 of 9).
