National Basketball Association
Connecticut 67, Central Florida 46
When: 2:00 PM ET, Sunday, March 6, 2016
Where: Harry A. Gampel Pavilion, Storrs, Connecticut
Officials:
# Roger Ayers, # Brent Hampton, # Tim Nestor
Attendance:
10167
By The Sports Xchange
Perhaps inching closer to an NCAA Tournament berth, UConn beat Central Florida 67-46 Sunday afternoon at Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, Conn., in the regular-season finale for both teams.
Forward Daniel Hamilton led UConn (21-10, 11-7 American) with 12 points despite playing just 17 minutes. Guard Sterling Gibbs added 10.
Tacko Fall, the Knights' 7-foot-6 freshman center, led Central Florida (12-17, 6-12) with 13 points.
Hamilton had three turnovers in the game's opening four minutes and was benched for the remainder of the half by coach Kevin Ollie. But Hamilton, who leads the Huskies in rebounds and assists and is fourth in scoring, scored all of his points in a five-minute span midway through the second half.
UCF scored the game's first eight points with Fall scoring four of those. But the Knights missed 20 of their 29 first half shots and trailed 30-24 at the half.
In a game that saw both teams struggle offensively for long stretches -- they combined to miss 14 straight shots at one point -- UConn made 52 percent of its shots after halftime to pull away.
UConn won the first meeting between the teams this season by a similar score, claiming a 67-41 victory on Jan. 31 in Orlando. UCF made just 23.5 percent of its shots in that defeat but did connect on 34.8 percent Sunday.
Fifth-seeded UConn will begin play in the American Athletic Conference tournament in Friday's quarterfinals against No. 4 Cincinnati. UCF, the No. 7 seed, will take on No. 10 Tulane in Thursday's first round.
Top Game Performances
Central Florida |
|
Connecticut |
Tacko Fall 13 |
Scoring |
Daniel Hamilton 12 |
Adonys Henriquez 3 |
Assists |
Rodney Purvis 5 |
Tacko Fall 5 |
Rebounds |
Daniel Hamilton 7 |
A.J. Davis 5 |
Free Throws Made |
Jalen Adams 3 |
Adonys Henriquez 2 |
Steals |
Omar Calhoun 2 |
Shaheed Davis 1 |
Blocks |
Amida Brimah 2 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
Central Florida
|
46 |
34.8 |
6-19 |
8-10 |
10 |
22 |
2 |
4 |
17 |
Connecticut
|
67 |
43.4 |
5-16 |
16-18 |
13 |
30 |
2 |
7 |
8 |