ORLANDO – The UCF men's basketball team is set to open American Athletic Conference action on Tuesday, New Year's Eve. The Knights host Temple for their first league game of the 2019-20 season for the second straight year, a 2 p.m. tip at Addition Financial Arena.
Last season, UCF defeated Temple 78-73 in Orlando on Jan. 2 to begin conference play. This time, the Knights and Owls square off on the final day of the decade with coverage on ESPNU and FM 96.9 The Game.
After winning six straight, UCF dropped its last game, falling to Oklahoma on the road by a score of 53-52. The Knights finished non-conference action at 9-3, the fourth straight season under head coach Johnny Dawkins that UCF has been 9-3 or better prior to the start of conference play.
Temple, meanwhile, comes to Orlando at 8-3 in its first season under new head coach Aaron McKie. Longtime assistant under Fran Dunphy, McKie has led the Owls to wins over USC, Texas A&M and Davidson during non-conference action.
The Owls, leading the all-time series 7-6 against UCF, look to continue what they had going in the regular season finale last year. Temple defeated the Knights 67-62 in Philadelphia to close things out and earn the three seed in The American Tournament.
GAME INFO
Date: Tuesday, Dec. 31
Time: 2 p.m. ET
TV: ESPNU
Radio: FM 96.9 The Game
SETTING THE SCENE
- The UCF men's basketball team had a successful non-conference season, going 9-3 overall.
- Under Johnny Dawkins, UCF has gone 9-3 or better prior to the start of conference play in each of his first four years at the helm.
- Tuesday marks the first American Athletic Conference contest of the season for the Knights.
- Last year, UCF went 13-5 in league play to earn the fourth seed in the league tournament.
AMERICAN ACTION
- UCF is 33-21 under Dawkins in league play as a member of the American Athletic Conference.
- Since the inception of the league for the 2013-14 season, the Knights are 48-60 in league play.
- The team's best record in American action was 13-5 last season, while the team's worst conference record in the AAC was 4-14 in 2013-14.
CONFERENCE OPENERS
- The Knights are 2-1 in conference openers in the Dawkins era, having defeated Tulane in the first league game of 2016-17, falling at SMU to open AAC play in 2017-18, and topping Temple to start conference action in 2018-19.
- Since joining The American, UCF is 3-3 in conference openers.
- In the program's Division I era, first joining a conference for the 1990-91 season, the Knights are 15-14 in conference openers.
SLIP-UP AGAINST SOONERS
- UCF's season-long winning streak of six games came to an end on Dec. 21 when the Knights lost 53-52 on the road at Oklahoma.
- The Knights led by as many as 12 points in the first half, but couldn't hang on, as Dre Fuller Jr.'s 3-pointer at the buzzer missed.
- UCF's defense held the Sooners to just 32.3 pecent shooting from the floor and 23.1 percent from 3-point range.
- The Knights outrebounded Oklahoma 48-42, but only shot 31.3 percent from the field themselves.
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