ORLANDO – The UCF men's basketball team returns home to host Cincinnati at noon on Sunday inside Addition Financial Arena.
The Knights are looking to get back in the win column. They were winners of two straight, earning the program's first win in Wichita against the Shockers before torching Tulsa by 44 points. The Black and Gold fell in their last time out in a heartbreaking turn of events that saw Memphis score the game-winning layup with seven seconds to play to take the 64-63 victory.
UCF saw Michael Durr return to the floor in the loss against Memphis after missing eight consecutive games. He tallied three points and six rebounds in contest. Taylor Hendricks led the Knights in scoring with 17 points, marking his 21st game in double digit scoring and 15th with 15 or more points. Currently, he is one of three players in the NCAA with 40 or more three pointers, 40 or more blocks and 25 or more dunks.
Sunday's contest will be the second of two meetings against Cincinnati this season. It's the final contest between the two as a part of the American Athletic Conference as both are set to make the jump to the Big 12. The two teams went down to the wire in their last meeting as UCF erased a 16-point second half deficit to tie the game at 60-60 with two minutes to go. The Knights couldn't finish off the comeback though, falling 73-64.
UCF has won four of the last seven meetings against Cincinnati. Two of those four victories were in thrilling fashion. The two sides battled into double overtime on Feb. 19, 2020, as UCF came away with an 89-87 victory. Cincinnati had hit what looked to be a buzzer beater from beyond half court, but upon review was waved off as the Bearcat player didn't get the ball of in time. On Mar. 7, 2019, the Knights topped the No. 19 Bearcats at home by a score of 58-55, marking the first season that UCF had beat two ranked opponents in a single season in program history. The Black and Gold knocked off No. 6 Houston earlier that season.
The Bearcats are 17-10 so far this season with a conference record of 8-6. They've split their last four matches, picking up wins against UCF and South Florida and dropping contests against Tulane and ECU. Cincinnati boasts four double-digit scorers and are led by Landers Nolley II who averages 16.2 points per game. Behind him are David DeJulius (14.3 points per game), Viktor Lakhin (12.5) and Jeremiah Davenport (10.1).
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