The Rundown
- The Knights wrap up their home stint with two games, starting out the weekend with a matchup against Southern Illinois Edwardsville (SIUE) on Friday, November 22 at 7 p.m. followed by another in-state game against Florida A&M Sunday, November 24 at 1 p.m.
- Friday’s game marks the second matchup between the two teams as the Knights hold a 1-0 record over SIUE.
- Featuring the third in-state matchup this season, FAMU holds a 15-10 record over the Black and Gold.
- The Cougars utilize their bench, averaging 30.3 points per game.
- The Knights lead the Big 12 in offensive rebounds per game with 16.5 per game.
Scouting SIUE
- SIUE enters the matchup with a 1-3 record, after earning its first win of the season against Roosevelt Tuesday, Nov. 19.
- Head coach Samantha Quigley Smith is in her 13th season overall and fourth season with the Cougars.
- Brianna Wooldridge leads the Cougars in points with 49 and averages 12.3 per game.
- Ava Stoller and Molly Sheehan each have dished out nine assists this season.
Scouting Florida A&M
- Florida A&M heads into the game with an 0-5 record as they look for their first win in the 24-25 season.
- Head coach Bridgette Gordon is in her second season overall with the Rattlers.
- Sydney Hendrix leads the squad with 12.6 points per game along with 8.8 rebounds per game.
A Win Would…
- Improve the Knights to 5-0 on the season
- Improve Coach’s Messer UCF home record to 24-13
- Improve the overall series between SIUE to 2-0
- Improve the overall series between FAMU to 11-15
- Be better than a loss
Strong Start
- The Knights 76-44 victory over Iona on Nov. 5 marked the seventh consecutive season opener victory for the Black and Gold.
- Since Coach Messer took over the program in 2022, the Knights have started out the season at home and are 3-0 in home openers in the Messer era.
- In Messer’s first year at the helm for UCF, she led her team to a 6-0 start which then marked the best start since the 7-0 start during the 1984-85 season.
- In just her second season, she broke the record with an 8-0 start to etch history into the record books with the best start in program history.
Rising to the Top
- Kaitlin Peterson once again leads the Knights in scoring with 18.0 points per game.
- Senior Kaitlin Peterson had a stellar debut season (23-24) for the Knights, as she led the Big 12 with 20.7 points per game.
- The senior was named to the All-Big 12 Second Team, marking the first Knight to earn a Big 12 award in their inaugural season in the Big 12.
- Peterson surpassed 500 points at Oklahoma State (Feb. 21), as she recorded 599 points last season and ranked 19th in the NCAA for points per game.
- She scored double digits in 27 of UCF’s 28 games last season and reached 20 points on 15 occasions.
Crashing the Boards
- Transfer Hannah Gusters leads the team with 9.0 rebounds per game
- Achol Akot is second on the team with 8.8 rebounds, she recorded a double-double against Stetson (11/16) with 19 points and 11 rebounds.
- Gusters has tallied double digits in rebounds in three games this season.
- The Dallas, Texas, native earned her first start with the Knights on Nov. 5 against Iona.
- She earned her first double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds in the Black and Gold’s first game of the 24-25 season against Iona (Nov. 5).
- Gusters has known Coach Messer since the eighth grade and has followed her to three universities (Baylor, LSU and UCF).
Fresh Start
- Freshman, Emely Rodriguez started her collegiate career with 13 points against Iona in the Knights season opener Nov. 5.
- The Dominican Republic native tallied 18 points against Marquette (Nov. 7) which marked just her second game donning the Black and Gold.
- Rodriguez recorded three straight games with double-digit scoring and earned her first start against Stetson (11/16).
Welcome to Orlando
- The Knights bring nine newcomers to the 2024-25 squad, four of which are transfers.
- Freshman Mahogany Chandler-Roberts represents one of three players from the state of Oregon who earned a McDonald’s All-American nomination, in addition to her selection as the reigning Portland Interscholastic League’s Player of the Year after averaging 16.7 points and 8.7 rebounds for Benson Tech.
- Graduate student Hannah Gusters joins the Knights after spending the 2023-24 season with Oklahoma State. The former Cowgirl averaged 14.3 points and 4.1 rebounds in 21 games last season.
- Fellow graduate student Nevaeh Brown (ETSU) brings the second-most average points in UCF’s transfer class, having produced an average 13.6 points with 3.6 rebounds in a season-high 30 starts. Lucie Castagne from Bryant (2.28 PPG, 2 RPG) and Ally Stedman from Miami (2.23 PPG, 0.65 RPG) round out the 2024-25 transfer class.
- Emely Rodriguez, Summer Yancy, Adeang Ring and Arek Angui represent the final four incoming freshman, joining Chandler-Roberts. Rodriguez, the Miami Herald’s Miami-Dade County Girl’s Basketball Player of the Year last season, averaged 26.5 points, 15.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game; Yancy, the fourth-ranked high school player out of Missouri, made the Class 6 All-State team three times; Ring comes to Orlando as the second-ranked high school player out of Arizona; Angui averaged 14.0 points, 13.0 rebounds and 6.0 blocks per game in her final high school season, per MaxPreps.
Home Sweet Home
- The Knights open the season with six home games which marks the most since the 1999-2000 season when UCF started its slate with nine straight home games.
- UCF has opened the season at home for the past five seasons, earning a win in all five of those matchups.
- Last season, the Black and Gold showcased an 8-8 record at home in their inaugural season in the Big 12.