The UCF Knights were in quite the favorable position in the American Conference after a second conference victory against the USF Bulls. In second place with a 4-1 conference record, the Knights resided among the leaders in one of the stronger basketball conferences in the country.
They got the courtesy placement in the NCAA Tournament as the current conference leaders, even if everyone knew it would not last.
The latest #bracketology forecast for the American Athletic Conference from @ESPNLunardi. pic.twitter.com/r7i5IW19iG
— ESPNU (@ESPNU) January 24, 2016
Since that point, UCF has dropped two in a row to the Tulsa Golden Hurricane and the Memphis Tigers and is currently limping through the meat of their conference schedule.
The Knights are still trying to prove they can play with the likes of the SMU Mustangs, Memphis Tigers and Connecticut Huskies, but have squandered their opportunities to crack the upper echelon with consistently sloppy play. As Justin McBride iterated after the Memphis game Tuesday, the talent is there for UCF.
However, the Knights are consistently and habitually the beleaguered. And with 11 games left to play, along with a conference tournament at Amway Center on the docket, the Knights have a good chance to surprise, but need a signature win to flip the script.
A chance at that signature win with this group of players will come on Sunday against UConn at CFE Arena.
The big-time program once helmed by Jim Calhoun and then taken over by the already crowned Kevin Ollie, the Connecticut Huskies are the class of the conference from a historical perspective.
UConn have had a season that is difficult to peg. At 14-6 overall and 4-3 in conference play, there have been inconsistencies in the Huskies’ performance and a reliance on 3-pointers and perimeter excellence with the extended absence of junior center Amiba Brimah.
The Huskies have three guards averaging double figures in Rodney Purvis, Sterling Gibbs and Daniel Hamilton and as a team, average just more than 36 percent from the 3-point line.
The Huskies leading scorer is senior forward Shonn Miller at 13.5 points per game. Miller seems like Connecticut’s feature player, but for the most part, UConn looks the part of a team that lacks a bona fide scorer, and in the team’s last game against Cincinnati, blew a fairly large fourth quarter lead to drop its first game in the last four.
UCF should be able to use its interior size to have a successful afternoon in the paint behind freshman Tacko Fall and junior Justin McBride, who broke out for 20 points against Memphis last time out and has averaged 14.8 points per game in his last five games.
The Knights have shown a great propensity to play with accelerated energy and for the most part, the pace has been there — 69.1 possessions per game is slightly below the national average. But fatigue set in for the Knights against an athletic Tigers team, and against an energetic and sharpshooting Huskies squad, the Knights will have their work cut out.
With wins against Ohio State, Memphis, Texas and Georgetown, UConn’s resume far surpasses UCF’s resume. But a Knights victory would mean quite a lot for a program that desperately needs results from a process that seems to be progressing, but is thirsty for the reward UCF’s players and coaches are grasping toward.
UCF-UConn will begin at 4 p.m. and air on CBS Sports Network. CFE Arena is also promoting a Military Appreciation Night. At the last contest against Memphis, the UCF alumni were lacking in support, but the fan section was rocking. For UCF to pull off a win of a magnitude that it hasn’t had in years, the crowd will have to be involved.
For the Knights, they will need every ounce of help that they can get.
