Nov. 22, 2008
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (UCFAthletics.com) - UCF will be playing in one of college basketball's most storied venues when the Knights face New Mexico at The Pit Saturday evening. The Lobos have won 600 contests at the 18,000-seat facility since it opened in 1966.
Rivals.com recently listed the top-16 home-court advantages in the nation and The Pit ranked 11th. A year ago, an average of 14,361 fans watched the team play at home. The Lobos have claimed 33-consecutive non-conference home games.
The Pit might be best known for hosting the 1983 Final Four, which is remembered for NC State's upset of Houston.
Head coach Kirk Speraw's Knights arrived in Albuquerque on Friday morning. The squad left the UCF campus at 5:45 a.m. Eastern. On Friday afternoon, UCF practiced at The Pit.
The contest is part of the Cancun Challenge. Next weekend, the Knights will play a pair of games in Mexico.
Tip-off for Saturday's game is set for 9 p.m. Eastern. UCF fans can listen to the game on the UCF-ISP Sports Network and 740 AM in Orlando. Scott Adams will have the call from The Pit as the team's usual play-by-play voice, Marc Daniels, is calling the UCF-Memphis football game in Tennessee Saturday. Free audio of the game at New Mexico will be available at UCFAthletics.com.
For the latest news on the Knights, log on to UCFAthletics.com - the official site for UCF varsity sports. The site, which also contains ticket and Golden Knights Club donor information, is also the home of UCF's new online apparel store. Also visit UCFPhotos.com, the exclusive fan source for UCF action sports pictures.
Notes: Speraw was in attendance at The Pit for the 1983 Final Four. At the time, he was an assistant coach at Florida Southern... Senior guard Jermaine Taylor (Tavares, Fla.) enters the contest averaging 23.0 points per game. If he totals over 10 points against the Lobos, it will serve as the 55th double-figure scoring game of his career.