You probably thought that UCF was a football school but the basketball team has something to say about that. Their .742 W/L% this year is #2 in school history and they will try to get their 1st-ever NCAA tourney win on Friday night when they travel to Columbia, SC to face VCU in the 1st round. The Knights did not win more than 13 games in a season from 2014-2016 but under Coach Johnny Dawkins they have now won 19+ games in each of the past 3 years. Earlier today HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to speak with SR G BJ Taylor about overcoming injuries and beating each of the other 3 AAC teams who made the NCAA tourney.
You grew up in Florida: what made you choose UCF? I am an Orlando hometown kid so I just wanted to represent Orlando.
In 2015 you started 26 games and were named to the AAC All-Rookie team: how were you able to come in and contribute right from the start? I was able to prepare really well while coming out of high school. Being able to play against college guys at UCF while I was still in high school really impacted my game.
In the 2017 NIT semifinals you scored 10 PTS in a loss to TCU: what is the biggest difference between the regular season and the postseason? The physicality: every possession means more and there is so much more on the line because everyone wants to win. You see desperation from both teams on the court.
You play for Coach Johnny Dawkins: what makes him such a good coach, and what is the most important thing that you have learned from him so far? He has firsthand experience as a player and accomplished so many things during his career that he can relate to our mindset. He is good at the psychological part of the game and can always motivate us. He just teaches us to play hard: if you are keeping score then you need to play to win.
You missed 1 year with a lower leg injury and the 1st ½ of last season due to a foot injury: how difficult was it to make it back onto the court, and how is your health at the moment? It was difficult to miss an entire season but in the long run it has made me mentally tougher. Dealing with that adversity has helped me mature a lot.
In December you scored a career-high 35 PTS/6-9 3PM in a 7-PT win over Georgia Southern: was it just 1 of those situations where every shot you put up seemed to go in because you were “in the zone”? I started off slow that night but since it was close down the stretch I was put in a position to make some threes. It was not like every shot was falling: I just remained aggressive and was able to get things going and did what I could to help the team win.
You beat each of the other 3 AAC teams who made the NCAA tourney this year (Cincy/Houston/Temple): which of them impressed you the most, and why? Houston had a 33-game home court winning streak at the time we beat them so it was big for our confidence to knock them off.
You are a good FT shooter (77.4% this year) but your team is among the worst in the nation (64.5%): are you worried that it might bite your team in the butt this week? The biggest thing for us is that we rely on getting fouled a lot because it puts us in the bonus and lets us take a bunch of FTs. The volume is important so if we can take 20 more FTs than our opponent then we should still be able to score a number of points.
You have a pair of twin towers in 6’11” Collin Smith and 7’6” Tacko Fall: how does their size help what you do on offense/defense? Most teams nowadays do not play with 2 centers: most of them play small ball with a bunch of guards. It makes us unique because we can punish teams down low and impose our physicality.
What do you think about getting a #9 seed, and what do you know about VCU? Getting into the NCAA tourney is exciting: our school had a 14-year drought so it was huge for our program to get the 1st at-large bid in school history. VCU plays fast/hard and had a really good season so we know that it will be a battle.
