ORLANDO – The UCF men's basketball team is set to head back on the road, looking to snap a five-game losing skid against Tulane. The Knights and the Green Wave will square off Tuesday night at 8 p.m. ET with coverage on ESPN3 and FM 96.9 The Game.
The Knights (9-7, 0-4) recently fell to Cincinnati 68-54 at home, but have defeated the Green Wave (10-6, 2-2) in each of the last three meetings between the two teams. Last season, UCF won 75-50 over Tulane in New Orleans in the teams' only matchup in 2019.
The Green Wave is in its first season under new head coach Ron Hunter, who has led Tulane to more wins than the team had all of last season.
UCF leads the all-time series against Tulane 15-3 and hasn't lost to the Green Wave since the conference tournament in 2016.
GAME INFO
Date: Tuesday, Jan. 14
Time: 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT
TV: ESPN3
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, but has now dropped its first four games of the American Athletic Conference season.
- The Knights have lost five straight games overall, the longest losing streak for the team since losing seven straight from Feb. 6 to Feb. 27 in 2016.
- UCF looks to rebound on the road against Tulane, having defeated the Green Wave in 15 out of 18 all-time meetings.
TOUGH START TO AMERICAN PLAY
- The Knights have opened up American Athletic Conference play 0-4 for the first time since joining the league.
- It's the first 0-4 start to league play for UCF since joining a Division I conference.
- UCF is now 33-25 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 48-64 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 back in 2013-14.
STREAK STATS
- During UCF's current five-game losing streak, the team is averaging just 60.2 points per game, while allowing 68.4 points per contest.
- The Knights are shooting 39.2 percent from the field and 25.0 percent from 3-point range.
- They're being outrebounded 39.2 to 34.2 during the five-game span.
- Collin Smith, Ceasar DeJesus and Dre Fuller Jr. have been leading the offense during the stretch, each averaging in double figures in the five losses.
LAST SEASON VS. TULANE
- The Knights and the Green Wave met just once last season, with UCF leaving New Orleans with a 75-50 victory.
- Both teams look very different this season, as Samir Sahic led Tulane with 11 points and Aubrey Dawkins led UCF with 19 back on Jan. 23, 2019.
- Kevin Zhang is the only player for the Green Wave from that game that is playing significant minutes in 2019-20. He had 10 points in last season's defeat.
- For UCF's squad from that game, Collin Smith had 11 points, Ceasar DeJesus had four, and Frank Bertz had two in the win.
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