Dec. 1, 2004
ORLANDO - The men's basketball team looks to extend its perfect start as it hosts Gardner-Webb in its A-Sun opener on Thursday night. The Golden Knights are 13-2 in their last 15, games including a 4-0 start to begin the 2004-05 campaign.
Josh Peppers has provided spark as the sixth man early on in the season. The 6-6 sophomore is second on the team in scoring at 12.0 points per game and has reached double digits in scoring in each of the last two games. He led the team with a career-high 18 points on 7-of-13 shooting in the home opener against Puerto Rico-Mayaguez. Peppers is shooting .542 from the floor and also leads the team in rebounds per game at 5.0 per contest.
The Golden Knights are looking to equal their best start as a Division I member (5-0), which they previously posted in Kirk Speraw's first season at the helm. That season, UCF made the NCAA Tournament and won 20 games for the first time at the Division I level. The current 4-0 start equals the sixth best start in school history.
The Runnin' Bulldogs have jumped out to a 2-1 record behind the play of Brian Bender, a junior guard from Lawrenceville, Ga. Bender, the league's leading scorer, was named A-Sun player of the week last week after averaging 17.5 points per game and five rebounds. GWU went 1-1 during the week as Bender helped GWU blast UCF's future C-USA rival East Carolina 90-60, before falling to Arkansas 79-63. Early in the season, GWU leads the A-Sun in scoring offense at 79.3 points per game, while ranking second in scoring defense at 66.7 points per game.
Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. as the second game of a doubleheader with the women's team, which hosts Belmont at 5:00 p.m. Marc Daniels will call the action, which can be heard live on UCF ISP Sports Network and its flagship station 740-THE TEAM (AM).