Isoken Uzamere was hired in April 2016. Her primary responsibilities include the development of the post players, opponent scouting reports and recruiting.
A historic 2021-22 campaign saw the Knights win an NCAA Tournament game for the first time in program history as the highest seed by a UCF squad. The Black and Gold were the No. 7 seed in the Bridgeport Region
The Knights finished with a 26-4 record, winning the American Athletic Conference regular season with a 14-1 mark and captured The American Championship trophy for the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. UCF defeated Florida, 69-52, in the first round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament, marking the first NCAA Tournament win by a Knights squad in program history.
The accolades were plentiful throughout the season, and UCF made its debut in the national polls for the first time in program history, climbing to No. 23 in the USA Today/WBCA Top 25 and No. 24 in the Associated Press poll.
In her first four seasons at UCF, she helped guide the Knights to the program’s first four-consecutive 20-win seasons in the Division I era, and only missed a fifth-straight after the COVID-19 pandemic led to fewer contests in the 2020-21 campaign. She helped the Knights to their best finish in the American Athletic Conference in all six seasons, including their first-ever appearance in The American Championship title game in 2018-19, a return to the title game in 2020-21 and the tournament title in 2021-22.
UCF has also made five postseason appearances - one in each season in which a postseason tournament was held. In 2018-19, UCF earned the program’s first at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament in 2018-19 and, after the COVID-19 pandemic caused the cancellation of all 2020 spring championships, rebounded with a second-straight NCAA bid and the highest seed in program history.
Brittney Smith developed into one of the top forwards in The American under Uzamere’s guidance. The Orlando native was tabbed as The American Sixth Player of the Year, garnered all-conference third team honors twice and was named a Preseason All-Conference First Team selection in 2020-21.
Smith stepped up offensively for the Knights in 2019-20, finishing as the team’s second-leading scorer. She averaged 11.7 points per game in league play to earn an all-conference third team nod. The forward entered her sophomore season having never reached double-figures in her career. Smith had 15 double-digit performances in 2019-20, with 10 of those coming during league play.
Making one of the largest jumps among conference players, Smith’s numbers in nearly every statistical category improved in 2019-20. She ranked 14th in offensive rebounding (2.3), 15th in free throw percentage (68.5), 19th in scoring (11.7) and tied for 19th in rebounding (5.4). She was also among the top five in field goal percentage throughout league play, hitting 50.3 percent of her shots during the 16-game league slate.
Masseny Kaba finished her career ranked in five categories on UCF's career top 10 list: 3rd in blocks (123); 4th in rebounds (846); 4th in free throw attempts (440); 9th in free throws made (244); 10th in points (1,214). She is the only Knight in program history with 800+ career rebounds and 100 career blocks. Kaba garnered third eam all-conference honors and repeated as an all-tournament selection after leading UCF to its first American Athletic Conference title in 2022.
Kaba was named to The American All-Tournament Team after averaging 12.0 points and 7.3 rebounds per game while leading UCF to the championship game in March 2021. The Dorchester, Mass., native led UCF in rebounding in three seasons with the Black and Gold. Uzamere also guided Kaba to a spot on The American all-rookie team in 2017-18.
After injuries knocked the Knights down to just two forwards in 2017-18, Uzamere helped Kayla Thigpen, a shooting guard, transition into a forward position for the conference campaign.
Under her guidance, Nyala Shuler saw her rebounding numbers increase, as she led the Knights with 7.1 boards per game as a redshirt junior in 2017-18. The Orlando native continued her top rebounding performance during her final campaign and finished her career ranked fourth all-time with 837 boards. Shuler also finished in UCF’s career top 10 in blocks as her 84 put her at seventh all-time.
Uzamere came to UCF after four years with the Albany women’s basketball program where she served as an assistant coach for two seasons after two years as a graduate assistant manager.
While she was affiliated with the Great Danes, the team won four conference championships and earned four NCAA Tournament berths, which included Albany’s first NCAA Tournament win in 2016 against 5-seed Florida.
Uzamere had many roles at Albany. She was a recruiter, worked directly with the post players, oversaw the team’s managers and student assistants, served as the team’s strength and conditioning, nutrition and weight room liaison, made opponent scouting reports and assisted with game preparation.
In 2016, her post players accumulated numerous accolades. She helped guide forward Shereesha Richards to recognition as a two-time Associated Press Honorable Mention All-American. Moreover, Richards picked up her third-straight America East Player of the Year award in 2016 and was also named to the America East All-Conference First Team and All-Defensive Team. Forward/Center Tiana-Jo Carter was the conference’s selection for Sixth Player of the Year.
While Uzamere served as the team’s graduate assistant manager in 2012-14, she earned her master’s degree in interpersonal and intercultural communication. During those two years, she helped UAlbany capture a pair of America East titles and a combined 55-9 record.
Uzamere played forward for Hofstra and was a two-time Colonial Athletic Association All-Academic player in her junior and senior seasons. She served as the head coach of the Long Island Knights AAU Program in 2012 and was a counselor and coach at Game 7 Sports.
*Updated September 2021
