ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFKnights.com) – The UCF men's basketball team takes its four-game win streak on the road Thursday as the Knights finish the regular season in Tampa and look to sweep the War On I-4 Rivalry Series against USF.
Before the Knights (19-10, 10-7 AAC) and Bulls (7-20, 1-15 AAC) met back on Jan. 17 in Orlando the department-wide War On I-4 series was all tied up 15-15. After UCF won 86-64 in front of the home crowd, the Knights took an 18-15 lead and things have only gotten better from there for the Black and Gold.
After the women's basketball team won 66-62 in Tampa in their only contest against the Bulls and the track & field team came home from Birmingham with the American Athletic Conference Indoor Championship, UCF now leads the series 27-15 with a chance for three more points Thursday night.
Thursday's final men's basketball match-up of the season gives UCF a chance to sweep USF in the regular season series for the second straight season. The Knight's took care of the Bulls at home with a 22-point victory in January thanks to a record-setting night from Matt Williams.
Williams scored a career high 38 points on a UCF and American Athletic Conference record 11 three-pointers. Thursday, he has a chance to make some more history. The senior is just two points shy of becoming the 18th member of UCF's 1,000-Point Club and needs only three 3-pointers to break both UCF's single-season and career records for threes.
The Knights are coming off four straight wins, including Sunday's historic 53-49 victory over then No. 15 Cincinnati. It marked UCF's fourth ever win over a ranked opponent, its first since 2011 and the first ever inside CFE Arena.
At 10-7 in the league, the Knights are currently in fourth place in the American Athletic Conference standings, but can technically still finish anywhere from third place to seventh place. A win on Thursday would clinch a first round bye in the conference tournament, earning either the third, fourth or fifth spot in the standings.
The 2017 Frontier Communications American Athletic Conference Championship will start Thursday, March 9 with the First Round of competition. Quarterfinal and semifinal contests will continue on Friday and Saturday, before the championship game Sunday at 3:15 p.m. on ESPN. All games will be played at the XL Center in Hartford, Conn.
Thursday night's game against USF will air on ESPNU with Allen Bestwick and Mark Wise calling the action. 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 on the call.
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