UCF basketball looks to get back on track with season winding down

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When UCF and Colorado meet, one team will end their season-long losing streaks.

The Knights have lost dropped five in a row, the fourth such streak under coach Johnny Dawkins, while the Buffaloes hold the fifth-longest losing streak in the nation at 13 consecutive games and remaining winless in conference play.

It’s been a disappointing stretch for UCF (13-11, 4-9 Big 12), and with only seven remaining games left the window to make a postseason tournament is shrinking.

The Knights would likely need six wins to have a legitimate shot at an NCAA tournament bid, something the program hasn’t done since the 2018-19 season.

Anything less and the outlook turns to the National Invitation Tournament or College Basketball Crown.

If UCF snaps out of this funk, it must improve on the defensive end.

Dawkins’ team is allowing 79.8 points per game, the most by a Knights team since the 1995-96 season.

“We’ve got to defend better,” said Dawkins. “We’ve just got to be better at it. We must have a better sense of urgency when guarding and understanding precisely what we want to do regarding execution. It starts with that and then you must finish that play by rebounding [the ball].

“A lot of times, you get a stop on defense, but then you give up an offensive rebound and a putback. So, it must complete the defensive possession by getting the rebound.”

While the offense averages 79 points per game — the most by a Knights’ team since the 1993-94 season (80.6) — it remains ranked in the bottom half of Division I teams in field goal accuracy (42.2%).

One positive during the past two weeks has been the play of redshirt freshman guard Mikey Williams.

Williams is coming off a career game in Tuesday’s 77-65 loss to Iowa State, where he set marks for minutes (28), field goals (6), attempts (12) and points (14). He averages 4 points in 10 minutes per game, an occasional spark off a listless bench.

“He wants to be great, but there’s a process,” said Dawkins. “He’s gone through…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/ucf-basketball-looks-back-track-110000242.html

Author : Orlando Sentinel

Publish date : 2025-02-14 11:00:00

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