The Rundown
- The Knights open their February slate with a matchup against Houston Saturday, February 1 at 12 p.m. inside Addition Financial Arena for the second annual Stroll Knight.
- This matchup will 31st matchup between the two teams as they were both members of the American Athletic Conference prior to joining the Big 12 Conference in July of 2023.
- Houston is ranked fourth in the Big 12 averaging 9.1 steals per game.
- UCF is fourth in the league with 19.95 free throw attempts per game.
Scouting Houston
- Houston enters the matchup with a 5-16 overall record and 1-9 in the Big 12.
- Head coach Ronald Hughey is in his 11th season overall and holds a 135-170 record with the Cougars.
- Kierra Merchant is third in the Big 12 with 47 steals and fourth with 2.24 steals per game.
- Laila Blair leads the team in scoring with 232 points.
A Win Would…
- Improve the Knights to 8-12 on the season
- Give the Knights their first Big 12 conference win of the season
- Improve the Knights record against the Cougars to 23-8
- Be better than a loss
Young Talent
- The Knights feature the youngest teams in the Big 12 with four freshmen in the regular rotation on the court.
- The quartet of Adeang Ring, Emely Rodriguez, Summer Yancy and Mahogany Chandler-Roberts all have played at least 10 games this season.
- Rodriguez is having a stellar freshman season with 17 games played and has earned the starting nod 14 times along with earning Big 12 Freshman of the Week.
- Within the past few games, Ring has seen more minutes on the court and recorded a career-high 12 points against Oklahoma State on January 18 along with 11 rebounds at Iowa State (1/25).
- Yancy has played in 16 of the Knights’ 17 games this season with Chandler-Roberts earning one start.
- Chandler-Roberts has played in 17 games this season and has earned the starting nod three times.
Back-to-Back 20-plus
- Nevaeh Brown has stepped it up on the court the past two games recording back-to-back 20-plus point games.
- Against Iowa State, Brown tallied 23 points and went 3-6 from beyond the arc.
- In the most recent matchup against Baylor, the North Carolina native tied her career-high with 25 points and went a perfect 12-12 from the free-throw line to tie the school record.
Big 12 Weekly Awards Sweep
- For the first time in UCF women’s basketball history, the Knights swept the Big 12 conference awards with Kaitlin Peterson earning Player of the Week and Emely Rodriguez tabbed Freshman of the Week (11/25).
- Peterson tallied 79 points over three games with an average of 26.3 points per game.
- In the Nov. 22 matchup against SIUE, Peterson tied her career high by recording 35 points, going 3-5 from beyond the arc and 11-17 from the field.
- The Eufaula, Alabama, native tallied her 30th double-digit game at UCF on Sunday when she scored 21 points.
- Rodriguez recorded another strong week in her rookie season with 35 points over three games.
- The La Romana, Dominican Republic, native tied her career high with 18 points in the Knights' 80-55 win against Florida A&M on Sunday.
- The freshman currently averages 13.5 points per game and is ranked first among freshmen in the Big 12 in scoring.
Milestone Watch
- Kaitlin Peterson has recorded 962 points in her collegiate career, she is 38 points away from 1,000 points.
- This season Peterson has put up 30+ points on three occasions.
- The Eufaula, Alabama, native recorded a career-high 39 points against Texas Southern on Dec. 7.
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 20.5 points per game and is ranked No. 3 in the Big 12 and 17th in the NCAA.
- Peterson recorded a career-high 39 points at Texas Southern (12/7), which ranks seventh in the NCAA.
- She has recorded 12 games in double digits this season and reached 35-plus points on two occasions.
- The senior 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
- Achol Akot is first on the team with 6.7 rebounds and ranks 11th in the Big 12.
- Akot recorded a double-double against Stetson (11/16) with 19 points and 11 rebounds.
- The sophomore has tallied three double-doubles this season, which leads the team.
Knights in the Rankings
- As a team, UCF is ranked in the top 5 of the Big 12 conference rankings in three categories.
- 4th: Free throw attempts per game (19.95)
- 4th: Rebounds (offensive) per game (12.7)
- 4th: Free throws made per game (13.89)