ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) – Two of the top teams in the American Athletic Conference standings will square off Saturday at CFE Arena as the 3-1 UCF men's basketball team hosts 4-1 Houston at 4 p.m. on CBS Sports Network.
The Knights (12-4) will look to get back on track after snapping their five-game win streak on Sunday at UConn. Still out to one of its better starts in recent history, UCF has enjoyed plenty of success at home in 2016-17, currently holding an 8-1 mark at CFE Arena.
After a 22-10 campaign a year ago that saw Houston earn a bid to the NIT, the Cougars (13-4) have returned with a stellar start to 2016-17 themselves. Houston had defeated UConn, USF and Tulsa to start AAC play before falling to Cincinnati 67-58 last Saturday. The Cougars most recently topped East Carolina 74-58 on the road.
Houston leads UCF 11-9 in the all-time series, but the Knights holds a 5-4 advantage in games played in Orlando. Last season the Cougars swept UCF, winning 82-58 at Hofheinz Pavilion and earning an 88-61 victory at CFE Arena.
Saturday marks the first ever matchup between UCF's Johnny Dawkins and Houston's Kelvin Sampson as head coaches. The two played twice while Dawkins was on staff at Duke with the Blue Devils defeating Sampson's Oklahoma 78-67 in 2004 and his Indiana team 54-51 in 2006.
This weekend's game also marks the first of four tailgating opportunities this basketball season for Knights fans. Occurring at the rest of UCF's home weekend games, tailgating will begin four hours prior to tip-off on Memory Mall and be available to all UCF students and fans who have a ticket to the game. The first 500 students at the tailgate will receive a new Knightmare t-shirt.
The game is set to tip-off at 4 p.m. on CBS Sports Network with Dave Ryan and Chris Walker on the call. Fans can also listen to the game on FM 96.9 The Game, the iHeart radio app and the UCF Knights app with Marc Daniels and Taylor Young calling the action.
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Purchase season tickets for the 2016 UCF Men's Basketball campaign now. Call 407-UCF-1000 or click here to guarantee your seats for head coach Johnny Dawkins' first season with the Knights.