ORLANDO, FLORIDA---Less than 24 hours after UCF Knights' head coach Donnie Jones said he wasn't sure about the status of last year's leading scorer and 2014-2015 American Athletic Conference All-Freshman Team selection B.J. Taylor (12.8 PPG, 3.0 RPG, & 2.1 APG) and Taylor was a "long way away" despite him "working every day," he personally announced the "stud sophomore" will miss the remainder of the 2015-2016 season Wednesday afternoon.
Originally hoping he would return prior to their conference opener at East Carolina, Jones broke the news by saying “After a few months of rehabbing, B.J.’s lower leg injury has not healed as quickly as expected. Due to the injury needing much more time to heal, we have decided to redshirt B.J. this season. He is a valuable member of our team, both on and off the court, but we feel this will give B.J. the appropriate amount of time to get back to 100 percent. We look forward to his return to the court next season.”
Prior to the team's latest campaign's start, Taylor, who suffered his injury during an October practice and was seen in a walking boot during last night's 101-96 victory over Bethune-Cookman, was looked to be the star of a promising UCF squad that had highly touted newcomers coming in such as Tennessee transfer A.J. Davis and 7'6" freshman Tacko Fall. Although the team has shown glimpses of greatness, like in their season opening loss to Davidson and versus Massachusetts on December 8, the squad has significantly missed the scoring ability of the former Florida Class 8A Player of the Year (34.5 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 3.7 APG, & 1.9 SPG in his senior year of high school) on the perimeter to complement A.J. Davis and Daiquon Walker.
The 6-4 UCF Knights will be back in action for their last non-conference contest next Tuesday as they play host to now nationally ranked George Washington. VAVEL USA will supply post-game coverage from the CFE Arena.