ORLANDO – The Knights are on the road and looking to extend their winning streak to three straight as the UCF men's basketball team (15-8, 7-6 AAC) is set to take on No. 14 Houston (20-4, 9-2 AAC) at the Fertitta Center Thursday night 9:00 p.m. ET.
In addition to the live broadcast on ESPN2, fans can also tune in to 96.9 The Game to hear the voice of the Knights, Marc Daniels, on the call.
Thursday night's game marks the second of two regular season matchups between the two programs as the Knights fell to the Cougars, 63-49, back on Jan. 29 in Orlando.
It hasn't been long since UCF took down a top-15 ranked Houston team as the Knights defeated then No. 6 Houston at their place, 69-64, on March 2, 2019. The win marked UCF's second highest ranked victory in program history, trailing only 2011's win over then No. 4 UConn (68-63).
Houston is in a vulnerable state as of late after dropping two straight to SMU and Memphis. It's the first time since January 2017 that the Cougars have lost consecutive regular-season games with Saturday's loss to Memphis ended UH's 37-game home winning streak.
With junior guard Marcus Sasser sidelined due to injury, senior guard Kyler Edwards leads the available Cougars with 13.8 points per game and is third on the team with 5.7 rebounds per contest. The Arlington, Texas, native is one of only three players to rank among The American's Top-11 leaders in both scoring and rebounding.
Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson is in his eighth season at the helm of the Cougars. He has enjoyed a 187-68 record as their head coach and is looking to get his team back into the NCAA Final Four for the second straight year.
The Cougars lead the all-time series over the Knights, 19-11, and UCF is just 5-9 all-time in Houston.
Game Information
Date: Thursday, Feb. 17
Time: 9 p.m. ET
TV: ESPN2
Radio: FM 96.9 The Game
DAWKINS ERA AT UCF
- Johnny Dawkins picked up career win No. 100 in the Knights' win over N.C. A&T on Dec. 11, becoming just the third coach in UCF history to reach the milestone.
- Dawkins is 109-68 since starting with the Knights in 2016, a win percentage of .615, the second best of any UCF coach (Torchy Clark, .754 from 1969-83).
- He has the third most wins over any UCF coach, trailing only Clark's 274 and Kirk Speraw's 247 from 1993-2010.
- Dawkins is the fastest coach to reach 100 wins in program history in the Division I era, needing only 162 games to do so.
- Dawkins had his squad off to a 4-0 start to begin the 2021-22 season, tying his 2017-18 mark for his best start to a season at UCF.
- 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).
- Prior to Dawkins' arrival at UCF, the program had won three games against ranked opponents from 1984-2016. Since Dawkins has taken over, the Knights have won five games against ranked opponents.
- UCF had never won two games against ranked teams in a single season, and the Knights did it in a span of five days, taking down No. 6 Houston and No. 19 Cincinnati late in the 2018-19 season.
- UCF is now 8-51 all-time against ranked opponents, but 5-17 against ranked teams under Dawkins.
UCF VS RANKED TEAMS
- UCF's game against No. 14/15 Houston on Thursday marks the Knights' third against a ranked team ths season as they lost at then No. 21 Auburn on Dec. 1 and then No. 7 Houston on Jan. 29.
- The Knights are 8-51 all-time against ranked opponents but 5-17 under Dawkins.
- UCF has two wins in program history over Top 10 teams in No. 4 UConn (68-63, 11/25/11) and No. 6 Houston (69-64, 3/2/19).
- The highest ranked win UCF has on the road was at then No. 6 Houston on March 2, 2019 (69-64).
- Last season, the Knights took down then No. 15 Florida State, 86-74, in Tallahassee.
PERRY PASSES 1,000
- Fifth-year senior point guard Darius Perry scored his 1,000th career point in UCF's win over Wichita State on Feb. 8 after dropping 10 points to go along with three steals, three assists and three rebounds in the win.
- Perry proved to be a leader for the Knights in his first season in Orlando, leading the way with 14.7 points per game in 2020-21, good for seventh in the conference.
- Perry was named a team captain, along with Cheikh Mbacke Diong and Levy Renaud to begin the 2021-22 season.
- Perry immediately proved to be worthy of that honor as he led the Knights with 18 points, four assists and four offensive rebounds to help the Knights edge out Robert Morris in their season opener.
- Perry is currently fourth in the conference with 4.6 assists per game.
- He is second on the team with 11.3 points per game and has twice been named to the AAC honor roll (Dec. 27 and Feb. 7)
- The former Louisville Cardinal was a third-team all-conference honoree last season.
- Perry also led UCF in assists with 3.4 per contest, was second among qualifiers with a 38.3 three-point field goal percentage and was second behind only Mahan with a 86.4 free throw percentage.
- Perry made 10 made 3-pointers against Tulsa (Feb. 6) and Wichita State (Feb. 10) in 2020-21, which were the most made threes in back-to-back games by a Knight since Matt Williams had 10 against Houston and Memphis on Feb. 1 and Feb. 4, 2017.
Shocked the Shockers
- UCF picked up its first win in program history over Wichita State on Feb. 8, taking down the Shockers 71-66 at Addition Financial Arena.
- The win was UCF's first over Wichita State in nine games.
- The Knights have still yet to win in Wichita.
- Fifth-year guard Brandon Mahan had 19 points and a game-high-tying nine rebounds for UCF.
- Junior guard Darin Green Jr. added 17 points on five three-point goals.
- Senior front-liner Cheikh Mbacke Diong contributed 11 points and nine rebounds, while Darius Perry also had 10 points.
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