UCF Basketball: Could the Knights be the AAC favorite in 2018-19?

HARTFORD, CT - MARCH 11: A.J. Davis #3 of the UCF Knights, B.J. Taylor #1 and Tanksley Efianayi #0 react after losing 70-59 during the semifinal round of the AAC Basketball Tournament against the Southern Methodist Mustangs at the XL Center on March 11, 2017 in Hartford, Connecticut. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /

3 of 4

HARTFORD, CT – MARCH 11: Taylor (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /

Balance around the star on offense

Without a doubt, the offensive star in 2018-19 for UCF will be B.J. Taylor. A double-digit scorer in each of his first three seasons on campus, the rising senior should be in for an outstanding season as long as he stays healthy. In similar fashion to Fall, Taylor only played in 16 games last season. Depressingly enough for UCF fans, the injuries of Taylor and Fall occurred at such different times that they only played together during one game.

When healthy, Taylor is practically a guarantee to score 15-20 points on a given night. Considering UCF’s slow pace and outstanding defense, this kind of offensive production can be a major reason for success. In any late-game or late-shot clock situations, giving the ball to Taylor is a luxury that head coach Johnny Dawkins is lucky to have.

However, it is impossible to win basketball games without balanced scoring. And even though A.J. Davis, one of the leading scorers last year for the Knights, is now gone, there are plenty of players ready to step up on the offensive end. Most notably, Ceasar DeJesus could be in for a major breakout season. Just a freshman last season, DeJesus started all 32 games that he played in while putting up 8.6 points per game. He also did this on relatively solid efficiency (41.6 FG% / 37.8 3P% / 74.2 FT%).

Around this presumably excellent duo of Taylor and DeJesus are three other capable scorers. Although mostly known as a defensive player, Tacko Fall can also be a threat as a scorer. He averaged 11.3 points per game during this past season while connecting on a ridiculous 76.7% of his total field goal attempts. During his three-year career so far, Fall has never had a season where he shot less than 70% from the floor, so you can expect another highly efficient season from the big man.

On the wings, both Dayon Griffin and Aubrey Dawkins will be expected to play vital offensive roles. For Griffin, he needs to the sharpshooter on the perimeter. Despite shooting just 32.2% from distance this past year, he kept defenses honest due to his high volume of 3-pointers attempted (5.4 per game). Over three seasons with Louisiana Tech and UCF, he is a career 35.2% shooter from deep so returning to the mean would be huge for the Knights. As for Dawkins, the former Michigan Wolverine missed all of last season due to an injury. In two seasons in Ann Arbor, he averaged 6.7 points in 18.0 minutes per game. As a shooter, Dawkins is highly efficient. He shot 43.9% from deep on 189 total attempts with the Wolverines while also connecting on 55.8% of his shots inside the arc and 78.8% of his free throws.