It’s official – CFE Arena has sold out completely for Wednesday night’s game featuring UCF and Illinois in the National Invitation Tournament Quarterfinals, UCF Athletics confirmed.
Over 10,000 fans will pack the arena for the 7 p.m. tipoff. It will be the first time in CFE Arena history that men’s basketball has sold out.
Alumni donated tickets to students to allow the current Knights to watch their fellow Knights play. UCF Athletics will host giveaways and free seating to hundreds of students, and Knights basketball will have a chance to play in New York City for the championship games with a victory tonight.
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UCF MEN’S BASKETBALL DEFEATS NO. 1 SEED ILLINOIS STATE 63-62, COMES HOME TO CFE ARENA FOR NIT QUARTERFINALS
The UCF Men’s Basketball team will come home Wednesday for the National Invitation Tournament Quarterfinals at CFE Arena.
The Black and Gold (23-11) defeated Illinois State (28-7) 63-62 at Illinois State to proceed to the farthest any Knights basketball team has made it to the postseason.
Illinois State was the No. 1 seed in the division with UCF at No. 4 – the Redbirds automatically qualified for the NIT as regular season conference champions.
On Wednesday night, UCF stole the show in a fourth quarter finale, and, on a free throw shot made by sophomore B.J. Taylor, the Knights would claim victory.
Watch UCF Athletics history unfold on Wednesday, March 22, at 7 p.m., where the NIT Quarterfinals will take place at CFE Arena.
This is a breaking sports story. Stay tuned for a game recap.
UCF TAKES DOWN COLORADO BUFFALOES 79-74 AT HOME TO WIN THE FIRST ROUND OF THE NATIONAL INVITATION TOURNAMENT
The University of Central Florida Men’s Basketball team has claimed their first-ever victory in the National Invitation Tournament.
The Knights led from the beginning of the first half through the end of the game, only tying once in the second, where Colorado pushed for a lead.
As game time closed and the Buffaloes lineup brought the contest within one score, personal fouls gave Johnny Dawkins everything he needed to hold the board in favor of UCF. Twenty-four personal fouls allowed the Knights to call in seventeen points off of thirty-two attempts.
UCF led the Buffaloes 54.3%-42.3% in the field and 54.5%-27.3% from the three point line.
On Wednesday night, star players B.J. Taylor and Matt Williams once again pushed UCF one win further and another game farther into the post-season. Dawkins cautiously approached the field of play as Colorado began to narrow the score with well-placed three-pointers with pressure on keeping fouls to a minimum – only six free throw attempts were conceded through the match – and the ball in UCF’s hands while the clock ran out.
The National Invitation Tournament continues with the winner of the Illinois State versus UC Irvine at 9:30 p.m. EST. Both teams automatically qualified for the tournament as conference champions.
Photos courtesy of UCF Athletics Communications.
