(Photo by Tommy Cardinal / New Day Review)
ORLANDO, Fla. – With the departure of Matt Williams to the National Basketball Association, the University of Central Florida not only loses out on one of its best three-point threats from last season but perhaps its best-ever. The then-redshirt senior was second in scoring last season with a career-high 15.1 points per game and set six school records for single-season, single-game and career three-pointers made and attempted.
Now, second-year head coach Johnny Dawkins looks to divide Williams’ contribution over a committee of players, both returning and new.
“Well, it’s gonna be difficult to replace Matt’s three-point shooting ability. The depth at which he shot the ball, from the confidence at which he shot the ball, pretty much was second to none,” Dawkins said at the team’s media day on Oct. 24. “You know, I think we do have some capable shooters returning. I think we have, you know, several shooters that will hopefully be able to step in and fill that role. I don’t think no one shooter can replace Matt, but I think by having multiple shooters added to our roster, I think it gives us the ability to kinda do it by committee, which I think will be important for this year’s team.”
In point guard B.J. Taylor, the Knights’ leading scorer last season with a career-high 17.4 points per game, UCF has a proven shot-maker. He averaged the second-most three-point attempts with 4.9 threes per game, making 34 percent of them. Taylor had four games in the 2016-17 season where he made four three-pointers and one game where he made five.
But the redshirt junior understands the dangers of playing outside of himself and forcing a part of his game simply to make up for the loss of another’s.
“A lot of times, guys get out of themselves, try to make up for what other people do, and the biggest thing, as an individual player, is playing within yourself, keeping the game simple and doing what you do best,” Taylor said at media day on Oct. 24. “Guys always succeed, and guys always do better and help the team more when they do what they do best. You know, you can’t try to be like this guy or watch this guy and do that, but we have a lot of guys who sat out last year that are great three-point shoots… I mean, I can shoot threes as well, too. So, we’ll find ways to win, and, you know, that’s the most important thing.”
Dayon Griffin, a redshirt junior transfer from Louisiana Tech University, is one of the new players who looks to be a go-to three-point threat in his first season as a Knight. In his second season at Louisiana Tech in the 2015-16 season, Griffin shot 37.8 percent from deep, averaging 11.3 points per game in 29.1 minutes per game.
For Griffin, there’s no shortage of confidence in his improved game, as he believes he can emulate what Williams did last year.
“I think I definitely can come in and do exactly what [Williams] did,” Griffin said at the team’s media day on Oct. 24. “I mean, personally, I think I bring more to the table than just shooting, but definitely, definitely, when it comes to shooting, I definitely think I can step in and be another Matt.”
Said Dawkins on Griffin’s potential this season: “No, he’s not far off from [being a Williams type of a player]. Dayon is a really good shooter. He has really good range on his shot and someone we expect that that’s part of his role, to be ready for those types of looks. But I think this entire team is very confident that when he’s open, he can make those shots, and we expect him to take ‘em.”
Griffin approaches this season with a sense of relief that he can finally play after being on the Knights’ scout team all last season.
“It’s a relief, honestly, to be able to, now, come here and contribute, finally. Show myself and show my talent off with my brothers and my family,” Griffin said. “I know that, you know, with my skill set, bringing it to the table, I know that I can help this team win games. And that’s really me. I mean, I’m a shooter. I’ve been working the offseason on my shot majority of the time, coming off screens and, you know, ball-handling, of course, too, but, predominantly, I wanna bring shooting to this team ‘cause I know Matt left, and I know we need another shooter like that to come in, so I’m ready to step in.”
Fortunately for Griffin, he joins a Dawkins staff that knows how to most effectively use three-point shooters like himself and Williams. In three full seasons before Dawkins took over at UCF, Williams averaged just 4.7 threes per game, making 148 threes. Williams averaged 9.1 threes per game and made 126 three-pointers in the 2016-17 season alone.
Both the men’s and women’s teams open their seasons on Nov. 10 at home against the Mercer Bears. Tipoff for the women’s team is at 5:30 p.m., and the men will start at 8 p.m.
For more on the Knights, as they prepare for their second season under Dawkins, follow Victor Tan on Twitter at @NDR_VictorTan.
