ORLANDO – The UCF men's basketball team is set to return from safety protocols dealing with positive COVID-19 tests and contact tracing this week. The Knights will have gone 11 days between games when they head to Philadelphia to take on Temple, Thursday, Jan. 14 at noon on ESPN+.
UCF (3-3, 1-2) has not played since Jan. 2 when the Knights lost on the road to rival South Florida, its second loss in a row. The Black and Gold look to get back over .500 overall and back even in league play with a win Thursday over Temple.
The Owls (1-3, 0-3) have yet to win a conference game in three tries this season, and are the only team in the league that has played less games than UCF. Temple was recently on pause due to COVID-19, but returned to action on Jan. 11 to play at SMU, the Owls' second loss to the Mustangs.
UCF and Temple have faced each other 14 times with the Owls holding an 8-6 advantage in the series. The Knights have lost the last two meetings, last season's only matchup in Orlando, and the second game between the two teams in the 2018-19 season, in Philadelphia.
Game Information
Date: Thursday, Jan. 14
Time: 12 p.m. ET
TV: ESPN+
Radio: FM 96.9 The Game
Dawkins Era at UCF
- Johnny Dawkins has made an immediate impact as head coach for the UCF men's basketball team, winning 86 games in just over four years at the helm.
- Dawkins is 86-51 since starting with the Knights in 2016, a win percentage of .628, the second best of any UCF coach (Torchy Clark, .754 from 1969-83).
- He has the third most wins of a UCF coach, trailing Clark's 274 and Kirk Speraw's 247 from 1993-10.
- Dawkins has led UCF to its first NIT Final Four (2017), first at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament (2019) and first NCAA Tournament win (2019).
Mahan Making Waves
- In his second season with the Knights, Mahan has been impressive in his first six games of the 2020-21 season, ranking fourth in The American in scoring with 17.5 points per game.
- The Texas A&M transfer played in all 30 games as a junior in 2019-20, starting 14 times.
- Mahan averaged 7.5 points and 3.7 rebounds per contest while knocking down 31 three-pointers and shooting 73.8 percent from the free throw line a season ago.
- As a senior this season he also leads the league with a 93.3 percent mark from the free throw line, ranks third with a 57.6 percent mark from the field, and is third with a 47.4 percent mark from the 3-point line.
- Mahan earned AAC Player of the Week honors for his 32-point outing in the win at Florida State and was named to the AAC Weekly Honor Roll the following week.
Mr. Basketball Making His Mark
- Adams, the first Florida Mr. Basketball to sign at UCF, has made an immediate impact as a freshman with the Knights.
- Adams scored nine points, grabbed three rebounds and had two steals in his collegiate debut, playing 14 minutes off the bench in the win over Auburn.
- He then scored in double figures with 11 points and grabbed two steals in the loss at Michigan.
- In the win at no. 15 Florida State he took it to another level, scoring 22 points, going 9-of-12 from the free throw line and grabbing a game high eight rebounds.
- In the recent win over Cincinnati, Adams scored 15 points, grabbed four rebounds and had two steals.
- Through five games played, Adams currently leads The American with 2.0 steals per game, but missed the game at South Florida on Saturday due to illness.
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