UCF hosted Michigan this evening at Addition Financial Arena in front of an announced crowd of 9,358 fans.    It would the second home game of the week for UCF and the first of a three game road trip for Michigan.

The first half was pretty evenly balanced between the two teams.  Both teams were identical from the arc at 4-12(33.33%) with Michigan having a slight edge inside shooting 14-36 compared to UCF’s 11-31.  At the break, Michigan held a 4 point lead 35-31.

The second half evolved into a completely different narrative.  In the first 2 1/2 minutes of the second half, Michigan extended  their lead to 12 points and maintained the gap for another 1 1/2 minutes.  That’s when Brandon Mahan’s three seemed to flip a switch at the 15:50 mark igniting the hometown team and their fans.  The Knights got into a rhythm putting up a 13 point scoring run and taking the lead.  With the UCF student section in full on mode, the Knights basketball team fed off their energy and put the pedal down to pull away from the Wolverines for good and a 85-71 victory.     

The Knights second half scoring summary was very impressive shooting 18-25 (72%) inside range, 8-8 (100%) from the arc, & 10-13 (76.9%) from the line.

Whats next:  UCF moves to 9-2 overall & will be away on Sunday, 1/2 at SMU 10-3.  Michigan falls to 7-5 overall & will play at Rutgers on Tuesday, 1/4

GAME STATS

UCF: 85 pts,  51.8% 2-PT, 12-20 60% 3-PT, 15-20 FT, 32 rebs, 20 assists, 6 TO, 6 STL, 7 Blks

Michigan: 71 pts,  39.7% 2-PT, 11-27 40.7% 3-PT, 10-13 FT, 37 rebs, 11 assists, 9 TO, 1 STL

Individual Leaders:

UCF – D. Green Jr. 27pts 7/9 3-pt, B. Mahan 26pts 5/7 3-pt, M.Diong 9pts 3 blocks, D. Perry 6 pts 7assists, CJ Walker 4pts 3 blocks

Michigan:  E. Brooks 18pts 4 assits, D. Jones 17pts, M. Diabate 13pts, H. Dickinson 12pts 

Photo credit: Sean Russell & Cameron Robertson/FAAZ Sports