Waiting in the Wings: UCF finally beats Memphis; SMU overruns Houston

UCF got their first win ever against Memphis, 68-67. (8,734) UCF held a lead for much of the game, but Memphis fought back to take a late lead of their own. UCF answered, and it came down to the last shots. Keith Clanton shoveled in a three-pointer miss by A.J. Rompza to tie it, and drew the foul. The made free throw gave UCF the final lead with 4 seconds to go, and Rompza stole the inbound to seal the deal.

Clanton had 23 points and 8 rebounds. Marcus Jordan had 20 points, and CBS Sports Network frequently showed his dad, Michael Jordan, in the luxury boxes at UCF Arena. Marcus also got the #5 play in ESPN's Top Plays overnight. ESPN coverage, however, was very sketchy. GameCast didn't work, they never did get the game flow graph up, and as of this writing they still having updated UCF's or Memphis's records.

Meanwhile, SMU ended up overrunning Houston, 70-54. (1,939) The Mustangs had the lead almost the entire way, except for a brief tie in the middle of the first half when the Cougars tied it.

Four Southern Methodist players were in double-digits, led by London Giles with 16 points and Robert Nyakundi with 15. Only two Houston players had double-digits, and they came off the bench: Kirk Van Slyke and Joseph Young each had 11.

Next up on Saturday, UCF (14-4, 4-1) heads to Alabama-Birmingham (6-11, 1-3), SMU (10-8, 2-2) heads to Memphis (12-6, 4-1), and Houston (9-9, 1-4) hosts East Carolina (9-8, 0-4).