The wide-eyed look on the face of freshman Keith Clanton said it all on Friday night at the new UCF Arena.

When the UCF Knights basketball team made their way onto the court for their season opener against UMass, they stepped right into a big-time college basketball atmosphere as 8,727 fans, including legendary Michael Jordan, were on hand to witness a rousing 84-67 win.

Isaac Sosa goes to the basket Friday night against UMass. (Photo by Scott McCall)

The energy radiated throughout the building over a two-hour stretch thanks to a raucous student section, school pep band, and a solid turnout by the community. Those in attendance helped give UCF its second-largest turnout in school history. There were 9,825 who witnessed the Knights take on Memphis on Jan. 10.

Isaac Sosa (Photo by Scott McCall)

“People don’t understand how much that affects our kids,” said head coach Kirk Speraw of those that made it out. “They’re a huge factor in our effort on the defensive end, we need them every game.”

The Knights held Massachusetts to 33-percent shooting from the field while draining 55-percent of their own shots to earn their eighth straight season-opening win.

“We heard them the whole game,” said sophomore guard Isaac Sosa of the crowd. “When we were up by double digits we felt like we could keep it like that [because of them]. It’s great motivation for us.”

The Knights opened things up close to midway through the second half after big shots were made by Sosa, Clanton, sophomore Jakub Kusmieruk and junior Taylor Young. Sosa led all scores with 26 points on 9-for-11 shooting, which included 6 of 7 shots from beyond the arc. It was just the second 20-point game of his young career.

A.J. Rompza (Photo by Scott McCall)

“I was very focused coming into this game and I always feel very confident in my shot,” said Sosa, the team’s leading returning scorer after averaging 8.2 points per game a year ago. “Once I get going I feel like I can keep going for the rest of the game.”

One person in particular who kept on going in typical fashion (if not recklessly) despite cramps and succumbing to an IV needle at one point was gritty sophomore guard and team sparkplug A.J. Rompza.

When Rampza wasn’t speeding up and down the court he was landing on it. He went on to finish out the night 6 of 8 from the field for 13 points with 5 assists, 3 rebounds and 2 steals. It was the 18^th time he has dished out at least five assists in a game for UCF.

“We stayed positive out there,” said Rompza. “There were times when we went down and as a young team we could have gave in and put our heads down but we showed a lot of maturity and stayed strong.”

Keith Clanton (Photo by Scott McCall)

Speraw, who is now just 10 wins away from becoming the winningest coach in program history, can only hope that the play of Rompza continues to evolve into that of a “floor general and quarterback on the court” as the team’s season and the kid’s career takes shape. It’s rather evident that – for a roster featuring just one senior and two juniors – as Rompza goes this team will go.

Next up for the Knights is a home game on Tuesday night against Howard at 7 p.m.

–– Keeping Stats ––

Clanton finished with 9 points on 4-for-6 shooting with 8 rebounds, 2 assists, a blocked shot and 3 turnovers in 27 minutes while fellow freshman Marcus Jordan went 0-for-2 from the field and 0-for-2 from the free throw line with 3 turnovers, 2 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal in 11 minutes of work.

Dave Diakite grabbed 7 rebounds, PJ. Gaynor scored 11 points and Taylor Young dished out 4 assists.

UMass was led by the 15-point effort of Ricky Harris, 14-point effort of Anthony Gurley, and 12-point effort of Freddie Riley.

–––– more UCF Basketball vs UMass coverage to come ––––