A season of firsts continued as the Knights (17-6, 6-3 C-USA) won for the first time in school history at SMU(10-13, 2-7 C-USA), 59-52, Saturday afternoon in Dallas.
UCF returned to conference play after a solid win against Division II Palm Beach Atlantic on Monday to defeat a lowly Mustangs team, who was coming in losers of four in a row.
The Knights, currently in fourth in Conference USA, improved to 3-2 on the road this season in conference play and needed the victory to keep pace in a competitive field featuring several potential at large teams.
Going into the game, the Knights had an RPI of 70 with two quality wins on their resume, meaning that they can play their way into the field even without winning the conference title.
UCF shot an abysmal 29 percent from the field, but was able to quell their free throw woes, going 11-of-13 in the first half. The second half saw a vast improvement as the Knights shot 46 percent from the field and continued to control the boards.
The Knights started the second half on a 14-4 run to take a 42-33 lead. This season has proven how big the last five minutes of the first half and first five minutes of the second half have been as most of their games have been decided in that period.
With 5:32 left in the game, Isaiah Sykes picked up his fourth foul after leading the Knights in scoring to that point. Marcus Jordan would pick up the slack from there, finishing with 17 points and four rebounds to lead UCF.
SMU would pull to within four, but could never regain control of the contest. With this win, UCF moves to within a game and a half of first place Southern Miss.
The Knights return to action Wednesday against rival Marshall in the Dungeon. The game is themed to be a “beach game” because UCF plans to turn up the heat after complaints by Marshall head coach Tom Herrion about the arena being too hot.
