Even in their highest scoring game of the season, the Knights could not piece together the right recipe for a win, losing 88-84 to the University of Houston (13-14, 5-9).
The loss is the ninth over the span of the last ten games for UCF (10-15, 2-11).
It had seemed that the game was exactly what the Knights needed – a game away from prying eyes at home, against a team more evenly matched that they could really compete with in this season littered with ranked opponents. UH had not distanced themselves to far from the bottom of the pack, and UCF had just suffered a demoralizing loss to Cincinnati on Wednesday.
Tied at halftime with a score already at 42, the Knights were primed to continue their high scoring run and finish off the Cougars with accuracy that was a dramatic improvement from their last outing. Houston got hot in the second half though, and would finish with a highly impressive 58.3% field goal success rate in comparison to UCF’s 47.7%.
The Cougars jumped out to an early lead after the intermission and never looked back or fell from their lofty status – though never running away with the game either. Isiah Sykes turned in his second consecutive double-double in the losing effort with 19 points and 13 rebounds.
Tristen Spurlock did significant damage as well with his team-high 21 points.
UCF returns home to play Rutgers on Wednesday. The Scarlet Knights are currently in possession of a 4-10 record within the American Athletic Conference and have lost their last three games. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 pm.
