Eighth-seeded UCF will look to get back on track when it takes on ninth-seeded Cincinnati on Wednesday afternoon in a Big 12 Conference tournament second-round game in Kansas City, Mo.
There’s not a lot to separate the two teams, save from the fact that Cincinnati had to defeat 16th-seeded Utah on Tuesday to reach the second round.
The Knights (20-10) enjoyed a first-round bye in this event by finishing in a four-way tie for seventh place — including with Cincinnati — in the regular-season league standings. UCF settled for the eighth seed by winning the tiebreaker despite splitting two games against the Bearcats.
The Knights have dropped three straight games, most recently 77-62 at West Virginia on Friday. Riley Kugel and Themus Fulks led UCF with 16 points apiece in the loss while Jordan Burks pitched in 14 points and nine rebounds. The Knights lost despite earning a 40-28 edge in the scoring in the paint and outrebounding the host team 41-33.
“We were aware of that we need to be locked in on the game plan and understood that you have to play the full 40 minutes,” UCF coach Johnny Dawkins said. “It was disappointing to see us not understand that we got to stay completely focused the entire time.
“It’s just that kind of stuff (that’s hurt us the past three games). It’s that simple. We got to fight out of it. You know, nothing’s going to be given to you in this league.”
Four players average double figures in scoring for the Knights, led by Kugel’s 14.7 points per game and Fulks’ 14.4.
Cincinnati (18-14) garnered a rematch with the Knights via its 73-66 win over Utah in Tuesday’s first round. Jalen Celestine scored 19 points, Baba Miller added 11 points, 14 rebounds and six assists, and Moustapha Thiam collected 14 points and 10 rebounds as the Bearcats recorded their seventh win in the last nine games.
Cincinnati weathered a ragged first 14 1/2 minutes before using a 15-2 run to take a nine-point lead at halftime.
“I thought we did a nice job after we got the jitters out,” Bearcats coach Wes Miller said. “We stayed in it with our defense in the first half, then we started rebounding and running, and there was a little bit of a lid on it early, but our defense kept us in it. I thought we played well there for a while.”
Baba Miller paces Cincinnati in average points (13.3), rebounds (10.3) and assists (3.7) per game.
