ORLANDO – The UCF men's basketball team is gearing up for its final game of the regular season as the Knights (17-10, 9-8 AAC) are in Oklahoma for a Sunday afternoon game at Tulsa (9-19, 3-14 AAC), with a potential first-round bye in the American Athletic Conference Tournament on the line.
Tip-off in Reynolds Center is set for 2:00 p.m. ET on ESPNU, with Marc Daniels also on the call on FM 96.9 The Game.
With Houston, SMU, Memphis and Tulane having all clinched first-round byes for the 2022 AAC Men's Basketball Championship, the fifth seed and final first-round bye is up for grabs between UCF and Temple. The Owls sit at 9-7, while UCF is currently 9-8 in conference action. The Black and Gold can clinch the first-round bye with a win at Tulsa on Sunday and a Temple loss versus South Florida.
If UCF's clinches the five-seed, the Knights will be matched up against Tulane on Friday, March 11 at 3:00 p.m. ET on ESPN2.
On the other hand, if UCF does not clinch the five-seed, it will face South Florida as the six seed at 7:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, March 10.
The Knights, who are coming off a 82-67 loss at Tulane on Thursday, are led bt UCF junior guard Darin Green Jr. Green has led the charge for the Knights to this point in the season, checking in at first on the team with 13.4 points per game, as well as a team-high 78 threes on a 39.6 percent mark from deep. Freshman Darius Johnson has also been coming on as of late. The freshman has started the last eight games, averaging 8.1 points, 6.9 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game before Thursday's loss at Tulane.
The Knights trail in the all-time series lead versus Tulsa, 11-14, but UCF has won three straight after defeating the Golden Hurricane 76-67 back on Feb. 14 in Orlando.
Game Information
Date: Sunday, March 6
Time: 2 p.m. ET
TV: ESPNU
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 111-70 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 8-52 all-time against ranked opponents, but 5-18 against ranked teams under Dawkins.
POSTSEASON OUTLOOK
- With the regular season coming to a close, the Knights are making one long road trip to close out the season, closing out the regular season at Tulsa on Sunday at 2 pm ET.
- The Knights are currently 9-8 in The American, half a game back from Temple (9-7).
- UCF's nine conference wins this season are already its most since the 2018-19 season when the Knights went to the NCAA Tournament. In the NCAA Tournament, the Knights won their fist-round matchup against VCU, 73-58, before falling to Duke by one point (77-76) in the second round.
- The Black and Gold can clinch the first-round bye with a win at Tulsa on Sunday AND a Temple loss versus South Florida.
- If UCF's clinches the five-seed, the Knights will be matched up against Tulane on Friday, March 11 at 3:00 p.m. ET on ESPN2
- On the other hand, if UCF falls to Tulsa or Temple beats South Florida, the Knights will be the six seed and will face South Florida at 7:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, March 10. If UCF beats Tulsa and South Florida beats Temple, the Knights will be the six seed and will face Tulsa, still at 7:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, March 10.
- UCF finished the 2020-21 regular season 11-12 overall and 8-10 in AAC action. They beat ECU in the first round of the conference tournament, 72-62, before falling to Memphis in the quarterfinals, 70-62.
- UCF has never won an AAC title in the regular season or postseason (joined in 2013-14).
THE QUEST FOR 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.
- UCF fifth-year senior Brandon Mahan is the next Knight in line to reach 1,000 if he is able to do so this season (926 career points).
- Junior Darin Green Jr. (912) and fifth-year senior Cheikh Mbacke Diong (928) are also closing in on the career milestone.
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