The Legacy of Coach Nolan (ch2k8)

[nolan887]

UCF BOUNCES BACK, UAB DROPS NINTH STRAIGHT

UCF Knights 14-2 (3-1) vs UAB Blazers 3-10 (0-4)

UCF Arena

Orlando, FL

January 21, 2014

Orlando, FL - UCF has the #2 ranked defense int he nation, and tonight it finally showed up to play. The Knights yet again held an opponent under 50 points in this 28 point blowout win. Coach Nolan wasn't joking when he said, "I am already feeling sorry for UAB for what we are about to do to them," after their loss this past Saturday. The Knights quickly jumped out to a big lead and were able to contain senior center Rick Cannon by throwing double teams at him all game long. The Knights went into halftime with an eleven point lead, but played their starters part of the second half to get their confidence up a big in the big win. Shannon had a game high 20 points and Michael Boyce is seeming to play better as well, scoring 10 points and grabbing 5 boards while blocking UAB's Cannon twice. The Knights are shooting smarter, especially from deep, and showed that today with a 4-8 (50%) performance from downtown tonight. A big win is very likely when you shoot 53% from the floor like UCF did tonight.

"We weren't running up the score," Nolan explained. "We were just running our offense, if you don't want to get blown out then show up and play some defense. We have been struggling and I felt that my starters needed to be out there for more than just one half of play so that is what I did. If they don't like it, I'm sure they can have their shot at us come conference tourney time.

UCF has the rest of the week off to prepare for the Memphis Tigers in Memphis. Last season the Knights beat the Tigers both times they met, once in Orlando during the regular season, and once in the conference championship game in Memphis. The Tigers are 12-5 on the season, 4-1 in conference play, and have a very talented lineup this year as always. Memphis' leading scorer senior center Terence Ravello who averages 20 points per game is out with a ruptured ACL that will keep him out the rest of the season, but has a very strong supporting cast and will be a very tough match up for the Knights.

Alabama-Birmingham (3-10) at Central Florida (14-2)
January 21, 2015 1 2 F Alabama-Birmingham 25 23 48 Central Florida 35 40 76 Top Performers Alabama-Birmingham - Stats Rick Cannon - 12 Pts, 5 Reb, 2 Ast, 1 Stl, 2 Blk Courtland Hazel - 10 Pts, 3 Reb, 1 Ast, 1 Stl Central Florida - Stats Pearson Shannon - 20 Pts, 4 Reb Michael Boyce - 10 Pts, 5 Reb, 1 Stl, 2 Blk	Team Stat Comparison UAB UCF FG Made-Attempted 21-50 31-58 3P Made-Attempted 1-10 4-8 FT Made-Attempted 5-9 10-14 Rebounds 22 28 Assists 15 20 Steals 8 9 Blocks 6 5 Turnovers 18 8

[nolan887]

RIVALRY RENEWED: ADVANTAGE UCF

UCF Knights 15-2 (4-1) at Memphis Tigers 12-6 (4-2)

FedEx Forum

Memphis, TN

January 28, 2014

Memphis, TN - For the third time in three match ups, Coach Nolan walked away from a game with Memphis with a victory. The Knights under Nolan are 3-0 versus Memphis, including the conference tournament championship last year. The UCF-Memphis rivalry was in full force tonight in a very physical battle. In the first half alone Memphis picked up 15 team fouls and UCF picked up 12. With the Tigers' starters on the bench for most of the first half, the Knights capitalized with their deeper bench and led by eight points headed into the half. The Knights came out inspired in the second half and really ran away with the game before Memphis went on a big run to end the game. UCF only committed one foul in the second half, and it wasn't until two minutes left in the game. Memphis surely missed their leading scorer Terence Ravello who is out with a ruptured achilles tendon for the rest of the season. Pearson Shannon led all in scoring with 22 points and Kirstin Cassler had a breakout game with 11 points, up from his average of 2 per game. The Memphis backcourt had a solid game, but nobody from the Memphis lineup had a huge game.

"Three for three against Memphis, anyone noticing us yet?" Coach Nolan joked after the game. "Road wins are great, and road wins at Memphis are even better. Cassler had a career night with 11 points today, but we really need to control ourselves on defense. With a defense ranked as highly as ours, it was really embarrassing to be sending Memphis to the line so many times in the first half. We've got UTEP back in Orlando to prepare for now and hopefully we come out on top this time around."

THE UTEP Miners were the second team to send UCF home with an L on their resume. UTEP sits at 10-9 overall and 3-3 in conference play. If the Knights want to pull out a win, they will have to find an answer for Lou Clemmons who put up 22 points on UCF during their last match up. Freshman Michael Boyce will have his hands full on defense and will hope to stay out of foul trouble against the senior big man for the Miners.

Central Florida (15-2) at Memphis (12-6)
January 28, 2015 1 2 F Central Florida 39 35 74 Memphis 31 35 66 Top Performers Central Florida - Stats Pearson Shannon - 22 Pts, 3 Reb, 1 Stl Kirstin Cassler - 11 Pts, 7 Reb, 1 Ast, 2 Stl Memphis - Stats Lester Archibald - 15 Pts, 6 Ast, 1 Stl Jayson Wisniewski - 8 Pts, 1 Reb, 6 Ast, 2 Stl	Team Stat Comparison UCF MEM FG Made-Attempted 25-54 22-57 3P Made-Attempted 0-9 2-10 FT Made-Attempted 24-38 14-19 Rebounds 34 30 Assists 13 19 Steals 10 6 Blocks 2 4 Turnovers 9 15

[nolan887]

Although I am happy with a big win over heated rival Memphis, I think I need to bump my sliders up a bit. Memphis is rated 92 and my UCF team is rated 74 and I beat them by eight points.

I am going to try out jdaniels' All-American sliders for a few games and see how my results turn out.

here is the link if you are interested

[nolan887]

KNIGHTS FALTER LATE, UTEP COMPLETES SWEEP

UCF Knights 15-3 (4-2) vs UTEP Miners 11-9 (4-3)

UCF Arena

Orlando, FL

January 31, 2014

Orlando, FL - The Knights under the reigns of Coach Nolan have never lost to the same opponent more than once, but there is a first time for everything. The Knights went out against the UTEP Miners again tonight and the Miners left with another W, dropping the UCF Knights into third place in the conference. The Knights had solid performances from all of their starters, four of them with over ten points, but bench play is what decided the outcome of this game. UTEP's bench scored 37 points compared to UCF's 11 including two three point daggers to tie the game and claim the lead late. Senior sharpshooter Royce Patrick came off the bench in the second half to score a team high 12 points and going 2-3 from deep. The two three pointers he made were to tie the game and to go up by three with a little over a minute left in the game. The Knights tried to respond with a quick three of their own, but missed and were forced to put UTEP on the line for the rest of the game. The Knights defense has been inconsistent this season, and did not look very good today against the Miners.

"Our bench was very sloppy today," Coach Nolan explained after the loss. "We usually have Eddie [Carlson] or [Armando] Ross come in for Pearson and Mike, but they just could not get anything going on offense. It is hard to leave guys in when they can't score from under the bucket and aren't making stops at the other end of the floor. We had solid performances from all of the starters: Bone and Simmons with 13 a piece, Pearson with the game high 23, and Mike with 12, but we really can't win with no bench contribution. It is definitely something we will have to work on this week in our preparation for Rice."

The Rice Owls gave up a ten point halftime lead to the Knights last time around and allowed UCF to score 43 second half points. The Owls sit at 7-8 on the season, 2-5 in conference play. The Owls barraged UCF with three pointers int heir last match up and the Knights will look to play better defense and clamp down on the outside shots. UCF will surely look to get J.J. Bone going on the outside against Rice's 1-1-3 zone defense. With wins over some big name teams this season, a loss for Nolan's Knights against the tenth place Rice Owls would be a big embarrassment for the program.

Texas-El Paso (11-9) at Central Florida (15-3)
January 31, 2015 1 2 F Texas-El Paso 44 39 83 Central Florida 40 37 77 Top Performers Texas-El Paso - Stats Royce Patrick - 12 Pts (2-3 3pt) Moe Jelenic - 11 Pts, 5 Reb, 6 Ast Central Florida - Stats Pearson Shannon - 23 Pts, 9 Reb, 2 Ast J.J. Bone - 13 Pts (3-7 3pt), 1 Reb, 4 Ast	Team Stat Comparison UTEP UCF FG Made-Attempted 35-67 30-64 3P Made-Attempted 6-21 4-11 FT Made-Attempted 7-13 13-21 Rebounds 36 32 Assists 23 18 Steals 7 6 Blocks 2 1 Turnovers 10 9

[Deuce2223]

Tough loss to UTEP. But it looks like your Sliders gave you a close game..

I am still struggling with finding the right sliders as well. I like to play on MOP, but my issue is that I will shoot close to 60% for a 3 or 4 game streatch then make adjustments and shoot 30%. I would like to find something were I get more consistant. Same with the Computer..

My biggest complaint right now is I can't figure out how to get the computer to miss FT's. They shoot 90%+ every game I play.

[nolan887]

Quote: Originally Posted by Deuce2223

Tough loss to UTEP. But it looks like your Sliders gave you a close game.. I am still struggling with finding the right sliders as well. I like to play on MOP, but my issue is that I will shoot close to 60% for a 3 or 4 game streatch then make adjustments and shoot 30%. I would like to find something were I get more consistant. Same with the Computer.. My biggest complaint right now is I can't figure out how to get the computer to miss FT's. They shoot 90%+ every game I play.

Yea, just played another game and am not liking these sliders. CPU shot ~60% in both games and shot waaaay to early in the shot clock. I think I'm gonna go back and try my original sliders on All-American difficulty rather than All-Conf and see how that goes. I really liked the stats from my other games, but they were almost always blowouts and I was beating teams that I shouldn't have beat.

[superjames1992]

Quote: Originally Posted by Deuce2223

Tough loss to UTEP. But it looks like your Sliders gave you a close game.. I am still struggling with finding the right sliders as well. I like to play on MOP, but my issue is that I will shoot close to 60% for a 3 or 4 game streatch then make adjustments and shoot 30%. I would like to find something were I get more consistant. Same with the Computer.. My biggest complaint right now is I can't figure out how to get the computer to miss FT's. They shoot 90%+ every game I play.

I made the switch the MOP for a few games, but the CPU seems to always shoot amazingly. It's kind of reminiscent of the Robo-QB of EA's NCAA Football series to me.

I just don't like the flow of the game on MOP as much as All-Conference or even All-American.

[nolan887]

SHOOTOUT IN HOUSTON LEAVES OWLS STUNNED

UCF Knights 16-3 (5-2) vs Rice Owls 7-9 (2-6)

Tudor Fieldhouse

Houston, TX

February 3, 2014

Houston, TX - Insert clever gun joke here... this game was an absolute shootout. It was almost as if neither team knew what the word defense meant as both the UCF Knights and Rice Owls were scoring at will for the entire forty minutes tonight. Rice got out to a big halftime lead, but the Knights shot the lights out from down town in the second half going 10-13 from behind the arc and coming back in the final minutes to beat Rice. UCF, who has prided their team on defense all season, has been lacking in that department for the past few games. They will need to step it up on defense if they want to continue their hot streak this season. Pearson Shannon had a team high 23 points in this bout, but was a non factor on defense with zero blocks, 1 steal and allowing opposing big man Jim Padgett to put up 19 points and grab 13 boards. Nicholas Simmons also played poor defense allowing opposing SG Wesley Aguilar to score 23 points.

"GARBAGE!" Coach Nolan said of his team. "Aguilar scores 23 points and he is playing with a broken finger? HELLO?! CAN I BUY SOME DEFENSE PLEASE? I don't even want to talk about it. Yes, we won, but who cares? We played like absolute trash and I am appalled by our effort on the defensive end of the floor tonight. If we continue to play like this, we might just finish in 11th place. We've got a big game against Tulane to try to right the ship but judging from our performance today I really don't know what to tell you."

Next up for the Knights are the Tulane Green Wave in Orlando. UCF lost their last home game and will hope to shoot like they did tonight against Tulane. The Green Wave are currently 15-6 overall and 5-3 in conference play. The Knights are sitting at third in the conference and with a win will move up to a two way tie with Tulsa, both behind #20 Houston. If UCF wants any chance of winning, they need to play defense like they were at the beginning of the season especially against powerhouse Kevin Perry who is averaging 13 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 blocks per game this season.

Central Florida (16-3) at Rice (7-9)
February 3, 2015 1 2 F Central Florida 35 57 92 Rice 47 44 91 Top Performers Central Florida - Stats Pearson Shannon - 23 Pts, 1 Stl J.J. Bone - 13 Pts (3-7 3pt), 1 Reb, 9 Ast, 4 Stl Rice - Stats Jim Padgett - 19 Pts, 13 Reb, 2 Ast, 1 Blk Wesley Aguilar - 23 Pts (3-9 3pt), 2 Ast, 2 Stl	Team Stat Comparison UCF Rice FG Made-Attempted 38-70 39-67 3P Made-Attempted 10-19 7-22 FT Made-Attempted 6-7 6-8 Rebounds 29 28 Assists 26 21 Steals 15 13 Blocks 0 4 Turnovers 13 16