The Legacy of Coach Nolan (ch2k8)

[nolan887]

KNIGHTS FINALLY CLOSE OUT AGAINST GOOD COMPETITION

UCF Knights (9-2) vs. LMU Lions (6-8)
UCF Arena
Orlando, FL
December 30, 2013

Orlando, FL - Many critics were have been commenting lately on Nolan's easy pre-conference schedule and how the Knights have been blowing out their lowly competition. After this game, the critics should be silenced. The Loyola Marymount Lions have an overall team rating of 83 versus UCF's 72 but the Knights were able to play their game for forty minutes and the outcome was great. Both of the Knights' losses this season game to teams with above 80 overall ratings and going into this game it looked like they might drop a third. The Lions came out fired up and jumped out to an early ten point lead. The Knights responded after putting on a 1-2-1-1 press and forcing a few turnovers and score off of each. Going into the half up five points, this game certainly looked like another match up where UCF would go cold and lose big but this time the Knights had a little something left in the tank.

The Lions came out of the locker room to score a quick three, cutting the Knights' lead to just two points. After that, the momentum quickly shifted back to UCF. The Knights would go on a big run pushing their lead to as much as twenty eight points, and never look back. Kody Kleinzweig and Pearson Shannon both put up solid games down low and kept the Lions' big men in foul trouble all game, both ended with 4 fouls each. Kleinzweig put up 27 points, grabbed 2 boards, and dished out 2 assists and Shannon put up 16 points, grabbed 7 boards, had 2 assists, and 2 blocked shots. Due to the Lions' foul trouble, none of the players Loyola Marymount's starting lineup scored double digit points. Their top two performers came off the bench to put up 12 and 13 points.

"Great effort, great win," Coach Nolan commented after the game. "We went out and executed our game plan perfectly. It was great to finally keep up our intensity in the second half against a good team. UNLV and Seton Hall came out and smoked us in our two losses this season, but this game we slowed it down in the second half, played great defense, and crashed the boards hard. We've got one more game against Radford, but we are already focusing on our conference schedule and looking forward to keeping up our recent success."

Radford is struggling this season, off to a 2-8 record, but could serve as a trap game for UCF. If they overlook their last non conference opponent, it may hurt the overall team attitude. Being the lowest rated overall team in Conference USA and losing an easy game could spell disaster for the Knights' second half of the season. Continued good play from UCF's big men both starters and bench players has led to their great start and will hopefully continue for the rest of the season.

Loyola Marymount (6-8) at University of Central Florida (9-2)
December 30, 2013 1 2 F Loyola Marymount 41 25 66 University of Central Florida 46 39 85 Top Performers Loyola Marymount - Stats Louis Geason - 13 Pts, 2 Reb, 1 Ast Marquise Guy - 12 Pts, 1 Reb University of Central Florida - Stats Kody Kleinzweig - 27 Pts, 2 Reb, 2 Ast, 1 Stl Pearson Shannon - 16 Pts, 7 Reb, 2 Ast, 1 Stl, 2 Blk	Team Stat Comparison LMU UCF FG Made-Attempted 28-61 31-62 3P Made-Attempted 4-14 2-2 FT Made-Attempted 6-7 21-28 Rebounds 25 34 Assists 19 22 Steals 11 6 Blocks 5 2 Turnovers 17 11

[nolan887]

KNIGHTS START THE NEW YEAR OFF RIGHT, CRUISE INTO CONFERENCE PLAY

UCF Knights (10-2) vs. Radford Highlanders (2-10)
UCF Arena
Orlando, FL
January 4, 2014

Orlando, FL - What some deemed a trap game for the UCF Knights turned into another home blowout win. The Knights were down for a total of two minutes the whole game before going on a run to go up by as much as thirty points in the first half. Dominik Hill returned from his groin injury and recorded 11 points, shooting 2-3 from deep, 3 rebounds, and 1 steal, all in the first half. With a 26 point halftime lead, the Knights played their bench players in the second half and put it on cruise control on their way to the tenth win of the season.

"Everyone contributed today," Coach Nolan said after the game. "We didn't have Kody and Pearson putting the game on their backs like they usually do, we spread the ball around and everyone was scoring. We wanted to get Dom some good looks in the first half to see if his shot was effected at all by his injury and putting up 11 points showed everyone that he will be just fine. With big wins the past few games, our starters should be well rested heading out to UTEP next week."

At the end of pre-conference play, the Knights certainly look like they won't be finishing last in C-USA as predicted before the season. Dominik Hill, UCF's seemingly only outside threat is back on the roster and should help take the load off of Pearson Shannon and Kody Kleinzweig.

Radford University (2-10) at University of Central Florida (10-2)
January 4, 2014 1 2 F Radford University 31 28 59 University of Central Florida 57 24 81 Top Performers Radford University - Stats Howard Devonish - 16 Pts, 1 Ast Hubert Soto - 5 Pts, 6 Reb, 5 Blk University of Central Florida - Stats Nicholas Simmons - 12 Pts, 2 Reb, 1 Ast, 2 Stl Dominik Hill - 11 Pts, 3 Reb, 1 Stl	Team Stat Comparison RU UCF FG Made-Attempted 20-56 32-68 3P Made-Attempted 3-16 4-13 FT Made-Attempted 16-20 13-20 Rebounds 25 44 Assists 11 16 Steals 8 12 Blocks 6 3 Turnovers 13 10

[nolan887]

MID-SEASON TOP 25 POLLS

Media Top 25:
1. USC (14-0)
2. Arizona (14-0)
3. Maryland (15-0)
4. Tennessee (12-0)
5. Michigan State (14-0)
6. Syracuse (12-1)
7. Miami (11-1)
8. Wisconsin (12-1)
9. Texas (12-3)
10. Oklahoma (12-2)
11. Iowa State (14-0)
12. Auburn (11-1)
13. Florida (13-1)
14. Illinois (12-3)
15. Connecticut (12-2)
16. NC State (11-3)
17. Indiana (11-1)
18. Oregon (11-3)
19. California (10-3)
20. Texas A&M (9-3)
21. West Virginia (11-3)
22. UNLV (10-2)
23. Saint Joseph's (12-1)
24. Saint Louis (12-1)
25. Mississippi (11-3)

Mid-Major Top 25:
1. Gonzaga (12-3)
2. Nevada (12-4)
3. Troy (9-3)
4. Davidson (10-3)
5. Boise State (9-2)
6. George Mason (8-5)
7. Hofstra (9-6)
8. San Francisco (9-4)
9. Delaware (10-4)
10. New Mexico State (11-2)
11. Eastern Kentucky (11-1)
12. Siena (11-3)
13. William & Mary (8-5)
14. Wisconsin - Green Bay (10-3)
15. Butler (8-5)
16. Canisius (9-7)
17. UL Lafayette (8-4)
18. Fresno State (9-5)
19. Youngstown State (12-4)
20. Eastern Michigan (9-4)
21. Pacific (8-4)
22. UNC Wilmington (11-3)
23. Fairfield (8-5)
24. Manhatten (9-5)
25. Long Beach State (6-6)

[Deuce2223]

Big win over LMU. I really enjoyed my time there with Coach Young. Looks like you are off to a solid start going 11-2. 20 wins should be pretty easy for you and hopefully a nice run in the tourney will have UCF making noise across the nation.


Happy to see Boise State and Eastern Washington both playing well. Now if only UC Davis could get things going.

[nolan887]

Quote: Originally Posted by Deuce2223

Big win over LMU. I really enjoyed my time there with Coach Young. Looks like you are off to a solid start going 11-2. 20 wins should be pretty easy for you and hopefully a nice run in the tourney will have UCF making noise across the nation. Happy to see Boise State and Eastern Washington both playing well. Now if only UC Davis could get things going.

Haha for sure. UC Davis Aggies may or may not be doing amazing. I'll leave the judgment up to you haha. Thanks for following. I have a big standardized test on Saturday (6 am - 5 pm) but after that I should blast through the conference play. The only bad news is that I've simmed 3 times and Memphis with Coach Calapari has won the conference tourney all 3 times... I'm a bit worried because my good record as you have noted came against crap teams. But the good news is that I am definitely on my way to becoming a ranked team and giving Calapari a run for his money in our weak conference.

[superjames1992]

Quote: Originally Posted by nolan887

Haha for sure. UC Davis Aggies may or may not be doing amazing. I'll leave the judgment up to you haha. Thanks for following. I have a big standardized test on Saturday (6 am - 5 pm) but after that I should blast through the conference play. The only bad news is that I've simmed 3 times and Memphis with Coach Calapari has won the conference tourney all 3 times... I'm a bit worried because my good record as you have noted came against crap teams. But the good news is that I am definitely on my way to becoming a ranked team and giving Calapari a run for his money in our weak conference.

Yikes, an 11-hour test sounds brutal. That sucks.

Good start so far, although it's somewhat deceiving since your schedule has been quite fluffy. That said, you look like you may be able to give Memphis a run for their money in C-USA this year.

[nolan887]

Quote: Originally Posted by superjames1992

Good start so far, although it's somewhat deceiving since your schedule has been quite fluffy. That said, you look like you may be able to give Memphis a run for their money in C-USA this year.

Yea, I'm definitely going to customize my schedule for next season. I only play Memphis once in conference play, and then possibly a second time in the conference tournament. I am the lowest overall rated team in C-USA, so it should be interesting to see how well I do in conference play.

[nolan887]

NOLAN COACHES KNIGHTS TO FIFTH STRAIGHT WIN

UCF Knights (11-2) at UTEP Miners (7-7)
Don Haskins Center
El Paso, TX
January 8, 2014

El Paso, TX - Conference USA play started today with the UTEP Miners hosting the UCF Knights at the Don Haskins Center in El Paso. While some say that Coach Nolan scheduled an easy schedule to make himself look better, he proved them wrong by going out and beating a superior UTEP team on the road today. As has been their modus operandi for most of their games this season, the Knights' big men Pearson and Kleinzweig pounded the rock down low scoring 28 and 20 points respectively. UCF was also able to win the turnover battle which has been plaguing them all season by only turning the ball over 10 times to UTEP's 13. After a good bounce back from his injury last game against Radford, Dominik Hill was cold from the floor all day today. He went 0-4 from 3pt range and 1-6 from the field, tallying only 2 points. While we wont write him off due to a poor performance in one game, it will be critical to the Knights to have Hill back to 100% health and certainly something to watch out for.

"Like I said early this season, when we get Kody and Pearson going in the same game, we are a very hard team to beat," Coach Nolan said after the win. "It is great to have Pearson putting up the numbers he is this year as a junior because he is pushing Kody to be a better player while both of them are greatly contributing for our success. We went out there today and put the game out of reach from the get-go. Moe Jelenic had a good game for the Miners, but you can't overlook the fact that most of his points came against our bench players in the second half. I'm not knocking his skills, I'm just saying. It is great to start the conference play off with a win, and now we have to shift all of our focus to a great Memphis squad on Saturday. Perennial C-USA coach of the year Calipari will be a tough guy to game plan for, but we are up to the challenge."

The Knights' 9 point halftime lead was as much as 18 before the Miners went on a scoring run to close out the game, but unfortunately for UTEP it was too little too late. UCF was able to go out today and play solid defense, win the turnover battle, and rest many of their starters. If this continues, the Knights might be the most well rested team going into the conference tournament at the end of the regular season, and that could prove very deadly.

University of Central Florida (11-2) at University of Texas: El Paso (7-7)
January 8, 2014 1 2 F University of Central Florida 43 32 75 University of Texas: El Paso 34 32 66 Top Performers University of Central Florida - Stats Pearson Shannon - 28 Pts, 7 Reb, 2 Ast, 1 Stl, 1 Blk Kody Kleinzweig - 20 Pts, 4 Reb, 5 Ast, 1 Stl, 2 Blk University of Texas: El Paso - Stats Moe Jelenic - 25 Pts, 5 Reb, 2 Ast Tristan Benson - 6 Pts, 4 Reb, 6 Ast, 3 Stl	Team Stat Comparison UCF UTEP FG Made-Attempted 29-65 23-59 3P Made-Attempted 0-4 4-21 FT Made-Attempted 17-28 16-21 Rebounds 38 34 Assists 20 18 Steals 11 9 Blocks 3 3 Turnovers 10 13