Navy coach weighs in on UCF-Pitt matchup
On Dec. 12, UCF beat Navy by a score of 80-52 at home. Midshipmen coach Don DeVoe got a first-hand look at UCF and liked what he saw. DeVoe, an avid college basketball fan, also watched Pitt on a number of occasions this season in nationally televised games. He took time earlier this week to break down tonight's Pitt-UCF first-round NCAA matchup at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee.
UCF strenghts: Athletic. Aggressive. Sound defensively. "They like to play man-to-man, which obviously would be a tough matchup for them against Pitt. But I do believe they're athletic, and I think they're extremely strong at the wing position with Dexter Lyons and Rob Ross (15 points vs. Navy). They're mobile, athletic and shoot the ball well. They have great perimeter players. On the wing is where they can beat you. They don't have a lot of size, but they're capable of shooting the ball extremely well. They won 25 games, so they did a lot of things right this year."
Weaknesses: Not nearly as physical as Pitt, which features heavyweights Chris Taft (6-11, 250), Chevon Troutman (6-7, 250) and Toree Morris (6-11, 282). Lyons is 6-6, 210, Ross is 6-7, 195, Roberto Morentin is 6-9, 245, and Josh Bodden is 6-9, 235. "Strength will be their shortcoming. Pitt is a Big East team playing against a mid-level Division I team. They've played against kids with more advanced skills on a regular basis. They've played against great players all year, whereas, it's different for Central Florida because it plays in (the Atlantic Sun) Conference. I see this as being a problem area for UCF because they're not used to playing against athletes that are this big and strong."
The guards: Gary Johnson and Lyons man the UCF backcourt, though Lyons is versatile enough to play anywhere. Johnson averages 7.7 points and is second on the team in 3-point attempts (38 for 123) behind Lyons (70 of 154). That duo will have to light it up from long-range to counter the athleticism of the Pitt backcourt of Carl Krauser (15.2 ppg.) and Julius Page (11.2). "Central Florida has to make its outside shots; it's that simple. That's going to be the way to beat Pitt."