ORLANDO – The UCF men's basketball team is set to return to the road once more as they visit Cincinnati on Saturday for a noon tip on ESPNU.
The Knights are looking to bounce back from a four-game skid after dropping Saturday's contest to Temple by a score of 77-70 in overtime. Four Knights scored over a dozen points in the contest, as Lahat Thioune recorded a season-high 13 points alongside Ithiel Horton, who also netted 13 to lead the team. Brandon Suggs and Darius Johnson were close behind with 12 points each.
UCF forced overtime in improbable fashion against the Owls. Johnson was fouled with two seconds left. He missed the first free throw, setting up a must miss scenario in order to grab the rebound. The second miss was perfect, as the ball bounced back to Johnson who went up for the ball and was fouled. He sunk both free throws from the line with just a second on the clock to force the extra segment.
Johnson began overtime with a ridiculous three-pointer off the corner of the backboard that somehow banked in to give UCF a 65-62 lead. Temple answered with a 10-0 run to jump ahead 72-65 and never looked back, dropping the Knights to 4-5 in conference while Temple improved to 8-2.
UCF leads the conference in three-point percentage, netting 36.1% of its shots from behind the arc. C.J. Kelly has cashed in on nearly half of his shots from three-point land during conference, going 22-for-45, shooting 48.9%. He sits at 41.1% on the season, which currently ranks third in The American.
The Knights run into Cincinnati at an interesting time. The Bearcats have dropped two of their last three contests, but the two losses were by slim margins to two of the conference's best, falling 75-69 to No. 3 Houston on the road and 75-68 at home against Memphis. Cincinnati was victorious its last time out, dismantling Tulsa 81-55 on Wednesday. Overall, the Bearcats are 15-8 on the season, including 11-3 at home. They are 6-4 in conference play thus far, sitting directly ahead of UCF in the conference standings.
The Bearcats post three double-digit scorers, as Landers Nolley II leads the way, averaging 15.7 points per contest. He's followed by David DeJulius and Viktor Lakhin who tally 14.3 and 12.6 points per game respectively. Lakhin is a big presence on the boards as well, pulling down 7.4 rebounds per game.
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