UCF stymies Illinois, reaches NIT semis

[March 23, 2017]  During his eight seasons at Stanford, Johnny Dawkins twice directed the Cardinal to the NIT championship. Now his new school, Central Florida, is two steps away from the same accomplishment.

Backstopped by 7-foot-6 sophomore center Tacko Fall, who blocked three shots and influenced numerous airballs, UCF shut down Illinois' offense and earned a 68-58 victory in an NIT quarterfinal on Wednesday night at sold-out CFE Arena in Orlando, Fla.

Fourth-seeded UCF (24-11) will face TCU (22-15), also a No. 4 seed, in semifinal action on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden.

Sophomore point guard B.J. Taylor paced the Knights with 17 points. Senior guard Matt Williams and junior forward A.J. Davis added 16 points apiece, while Fall contributed 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Senior swingman Malcolm Hill scored 20 of his game-high 29 points in the second half for second-seeded Illinois (20-15), which held its only lead at 3-2.

The Illini never solved UCF's defense, which entered the night as the nation's stingiest in field goal defense at 36.4 percent. Illinois shot 31 percent from the floor.

The Illini shot 27 percent in the first half to fall behind 34-19 at the break and did not convert a two-point shot or a free throw until Hill's put-back with 2:05 left in the first half. By that point, UCF owned a 32-15 lead.

Williams, who came into the game fifth nationally with an average of 3.5 3-pointers per game, set the tone by hitting three consecutive 3-pointers to give UCF an 11-3 lead just 3:49 into the game.

Illinois pulled within 41-28 on sophomore forward Leron Black's 15-foot jumper with 15:56 left, but the Knights responded by feeding Fall for a drop into the bucket and finding Taylor for a 3-pointer that forced Illinois to call a timeout.

This trend repeated itself the rest of the way. Illinois would string together a basket or two to suggest a rally and UCF would snuff it out.

The Illini's last run came with four minutes to go when Hill drilled back-to-back 3-pointers to cut the deficit to 57-48. After a UCF timeout, Hill was fouled on a 3-point attempt and canned all three free throws. Illinois had another possession to get closer than six points, but senior guard Tracy Abrams and sophomore guard Jalen Coleman-Lands rimmed 3-point tries.

Cal State Bakersfield 80, Texas-Arlington 76

The eighth-seeded Roadrunners completed their Cinderella run to Madison Square Garden, beating the sixth-seeded Mavericks to earn a trip to the semifinals in New York.

Shon Briggs led Cal State Bakersfield (25-9) with 19 points, and Damiyne Durham added 18 points and eight rebounds. The Roadrunners will oppose sixth-seeded Georgia Tech (20-15) on Tuesday.

Texas-Arlington (27-9) got 22 points from Erick Neal and 15 from Kevin Hervey.

[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.