ORLANDO – The UCF men's basketball team returns home Saturday aiming to snap a four-game losing streak. The Knights host SMU at 2 p.m. with coverage from Addition Financial Arena on ESPNU and FM 96.9 The Game.
UCF (3-5, 1-4) is still just 2-1 at home this season and hasn't played at Addition Financial Arena since Dec. 26 against Houston, which started the team's current losing skid. The Knights' last win was at home against Cincinnati on Dec. 22.
SMU (7-2, 3-2) comes to Orlando having recently defeated Temple 79-68 in Dallas. Two of the Mustangs' three league wins are against the Owls, having also defeated ECU. SMU's two conference losses are at home to both Houston and Cincinnati.
The Mustangs lead the Knights 12-10 in the all-time series, but UCF holds a 7-3 advantage in games played in Orlando. The Knights defeated the Mustangs the last time these two teams met, a 61-58 victory at Addition Financial Arena on March 4, 2020.
Game Information
Date: Saturday, Jan. 23
Time: 2 p.m. ET
TV: ESPNU
Radio: FM 96.9 The Game
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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 86-53 since starting with the Knights in 2016, a win percentage of .619, 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).
Four-Game Skid
- After starting the season 3-1 with wins over Auburn, Florida State and Cincinnati, and receiving votes in both national polls, the Knights have lost their last four times out to league-leading Houston twice, and on the road at rival South Florida and at Temple.
- After averaging just 9.3 turnovers per game over its previous three games, UCF has turned the ball over 16.3 times per game in the four recent losses.
- It's tied for the second longest losing streak for UCF under Dawkins and it marks the first time Dawkins' squad at UCF has been under .500 on the season.
- The last time the Knights had a record below .500 was the end of the 2015-16 campaign.
Put On Pause
- The Knights went on pause last week due to positive COVID-19 tests and contact tracing within the program, postponing games against Memphis (Jan. 5) and Tulsa (Jan. 9).
- UCF went from Jan. 2 to Jan. 14 between games and missed seven days of practice.
- The Knights were able to get one and a half practices in before falling to Temple on the road on Jan. 14 and were missing point guard Darius Perry for that game and the loss at Houston on Jan. 17.
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