Sept. 28, 2004
ORLANDO - The UCF men's basketball program has announced their 2004-05 schedule. The defending A-Sun Tournament champions open the regular season at the 9th annual BP Top of the World Classic, hosted by Alaska-Fairbanks while the slate features 15 home games.
The Top of the World Classic features an eight-team format that includes Georgia Southern, New Mexico State, Northwestern, Portland, Utah State and Western Michigan, in addition to UCF and host Alaska Fairbanks. The Golden Knights open the tournament with the host Nanooks on Thursday November 18 at 10:00 p.m. Then the Knights will face Utah State or Georgia Southern on Saturday. The tournament concludes on Sunday with the championship game at 11:30 p.m.
Following the BP Top of the World Classic, the Knights will return to Orlando to play six of their next seven games at the UCF Arena. The Knights make their home debut with Puerto Rico-Mayaguez on November 24th to kick off a season long four-game homestand. A-Sun rivals Gardner-Webb and Campbell will also visit UCF Arena during the homestand, as well as UMKC who visits on December 12. UCF then visits UMKC before hosting the UCF Holiday Invitational featuring Brown, Charleston Southern and Fordham.
Following the UCF Holiday Invitational, the Knights jump into the bulk of the 20-game A-Sun schedule. After beginning the new year at Georgia State (1/3/05) and Mercer (1/5/05), the Knights return to the UCF Arena to host Jacksonville (1/9/05) and Stetson before (1/11/05) traveling to Florida Atlantic (1/13/05). The Knights then host Troy (1/16/05) and Florida Atlantic (1/20/05) before hitting the road for five of the next seven contests. That road swing also includes the first of two potential trips to Nashville, Tenn. UCF travels to Belmont, host of the 2004-05 A-Sun tournament, on January 23 while also visiting Lipscomb two days later.
Belmont's Curb Event Center will once again host the A-Sun tournament March 3-5. Last season, UCF captured the A-Sun crown at the same facility. The top eight teams from the A-Sun will qualify for the event. The Knights return two starters and seven letterwinners from last season's 25-6 team that advanced to the NCAA tournament.