March 9, 2008
ORLANDO, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) - After two road games to close the regular season this past week, the Knights were happy to return to campus early Sunday morning. On Saturday evening, UCF concluded its regular-season campaign at Tulsa.
Despite falling to the Golden Hurricane, the Knights (16-14) finished fourth in the Conference USA standings, earning a first-round bye at the league championship in Memphis, Tenn. UCF will open the event on Thursday as the No. 4 seed. In the quarterfinals, the squad will play either No. 5 Southern Miss or No. 12 Rice.
UCF head coach Kirk Speraw expects the play on the court to be at a high caliber in Memphis. The first round of the championship begins on Wednesday with four contests.
"It is going to be a great tournament," he said. "Every game is going to be competitive. I think points are going to be hard to come by because everybody's defense is going to be locked up. We are going to figure out ways to generate points."
The Knights will leave Orlando for Memphis on Tuesday.
In its three campaigns in C-USA, UCF has finished in the top-five in the league standings each year.
UCF's quarterfinal contest on Thursday will begin at 9:30 p.m. EST and will be aired regionally on CSS.
For the latest news and information on the Knights, tickets or apparel, log on to www.ucfathletics.com - the official site for UCF varsity sports. Also check out www.ucfphotos.com, the exclusive fan source for UCF action sports pictures.
Notes: In its three campaigns in C-USA, UCF has finished in the top-five in the league standings each year... Junior guard Jermaine Taylor (Tavares, Fla./Tavares) has played 1,000 minutes this season and is just the fourth player in school history to log at least 1,000 minutes in a campaign... When the Knights' quarterfinal contest at the C-USA Championship is broadcast by CSS, it will mark the team's 10th televised game of 2007-08.