On Wednesday night, 7’6 UCF freshman Tacko Fall and 7’6 UC Irvine Junior Mamaduou Ndiaye faced off for the first time. And from the opening tip it was an epic battle reminiscent of Wilt vs Russell or Hakeem vs Jabbar or Shaq vs Ewing. Unfortunately the start was more like Bradley vs Muresan (no disrespect to either of them who I feel are both underrated – they just aren’t “great”) when neither of  the centers were able to get the opening tip.

Fall finished with 6 points, 7 rebounds and 4 blocks but missed a big foul shot in OT. Ndiaye spent much of the night in foul trouble but scored all 3 of UC’s points in OT and finished with 5 points (1 of 5 fg), 2 boards and 1 steal in 19 minutes.

“It was a good matchup,” Fall said after the 61-60 loss. “I’ve never played against someone who was even close to my height like Mamadou was. Now I can see how people feel when they play against me. … I didn’t know what to expect when I came into the game, but after those two (blocks), I was like, ‘OK, I can guard him.’ It just kept me going.”

Source: Fox Sports