ORLANDO – The UCF men's basketball team is set for its first true road game of the season as the Knights visit Ole Miss on Wednesday night inside SJB Pavilion at 7:30 p.m. ET.
The Black and Gold have won seven of their last eight games, including a pair of consecutive wins over Samford and Tarleton. The Knights topped the Texans 75-49 their last time out, holding an opponent to under 50 points for the second time this season. Three Knights scored double digit points in Sunday's win with Taylor Hendricks leading the way with 16 points and Jayhlon Young and Ithiel Horton right behind with 15 points each. As a team, UCF shot over 50% from the field for the second time this season, finishing with a 52% clip. The Knights sunk a season-high 11 three-pointers on 23 attempts, resulting in a 47.8% mark from beyond the arc.
Two of the three 15+ point scorers were recognized by the American Athletic Conference in its weekly award cycle. For the fourth straight time, Hendricks was named as the league's rookie of the week, the first such occurrence of the feat in program history. With his fourth nod, he is now the program's leader in rookie of the week honors, passing fellow teammate Darius Johnson along with Isaiah Adams, Ceasar DeJesus, Adonys Henriquez and B.J. Taylor who all had three. Hendricks has earned four of the possible five rookie of the week honors thus far. Horton earned a spot on this week's honor roll for his performance against Samford, going 6-of-12 from the field, sinking a trio of three-pointers in the process.
The Knights put up their fourth-highest point total of the season against Tarleton and held them to the second-lowest total by an opponent this season. It is the second defensive masterpiece of the season as UCF held Western Illinois and Tarleton under 50 points. The Black and Gold held two opponents to under 50 points all of last season, keeping Bethune-Cookman to 45 points and Temple to 48.
UCF's defense is ranked in the top 25 nationally of multiple important stat categories. The Knights have limited their opponent's ability to shoot the three-ball, holding them to just 26.7%, a mark that is ranked 14th in the country. Overall, foes are shooting 37.6% from the field, ranking 18th in the nation. The Black and Gold allow 60.3 points a contest which ranks 24th in scoring defense.
The Knights have met Ole Miss just three times in program history. The Rebels have earned victories in all three affairs. Wednesday's contest will be the first meeting between the two sides since 2010. The Rebels were ranked 14th in the country at the time, handing UCF a 28-point defeat.
Ole Miss enters the contest with an identical record of 7-2. The Rebels have dropped two of their last three contests, falling to Oklahoma 59-55 in the ESPN Events Invitational championship game before dropping a road contest to Memphis 68-57. Ole Miss was victorious their last time out, beating Valparaiso 98-61.
Matthew Murrell leads the team in scoring, averaging 14.3 points per contest. The Rebels' second-leading scorer is Amaree Abram who averages 10.7 points a game. As a team, Ole Miss is 35th in the country in steals, averaging 9.2 per contest.
Ole Miss is one of two consecutive SEC opponents that UCF will face. After Wednesday's contest, the Knights will travel to Sunrise, Fla. to face Missouri in the AutoNation Orange Bowl Basketball Classic on Saturday at noon.
The numbers sway in UCF's favor if they can repeat their shooting performance from the field and beyond the arc. Ole Miss is just 3-28 under fifth-year head coach Kermit Davis Jr. when opponents shoot north of 50% from the field. The trend continues to favor the opposition when the Rebels surrender a 40% or greater mark from three-point land, going 13-29 in those games.
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