Written by Francisco Vera.
The UCF Knights lost a hard-fought thriller against the #1 Arizona Wildcats 84-77. Themus Fulks would put the Knights on his back, but fell short of giving UCF their first win against an AP #1 in program history.
Addition Financial Arena was rocking from the start for the Knights’ biggest game of the season against #1 Arizona. After some back-and-forth between both teams, it was tied at the first media timeout, 9-9.
Returning from the timeout, UCF would find themselves down 9, needing a spark before the deficit became too big to overcome. The crowd continued to get loud in hopes of helping the Knights get back in the game.
With just over 10 minutes to go in the first half, UCF kept struggling on both sides of the ball, hinting at a potential blowout. Jordan Burks would give the Knights their first basket in about five minutes, showing signs of life.
After the basket by Burks, UCF would get a run going, hoping to get them back in the game. The under-seven media timeout would be called after a travel call on Arizona’s Ivan Kharchenkov.
The Knights would take over for the remainder of the half as they would inch closer to the Wildcats’ lead. With the Knightmare behind them, UCF would rally and go into halftime down 41-38, after being down by as much as 15.
Themus Fulks would get the first basket of the second half for the Knights, but some quick mistakes would give Arizona a seven-point lead, forcing coach Dawkins to call a timeout.
It was evident that UCF would have to earn this win, and they were willing to do whatever it took to remain in the game. The Wildcats looked uncomfortable, but were able to get some momentum to stay ahead.
At the seven-minute media timeout, the Knights were down by 13 with nothing going their way. They needed whatever they could get, or else the game would become uglier for them, leaving them with little to no room for a hopeful comeback.
Jordan Burks began to heat up, giving UCF six quick points to keep the game within eight. Arizona would keep forcing uncomfortable looks, giving the Knights a subtle glimmer of hope.
With a little under two minutes remaining, UCF would go all-in on one final comeback attempt, down six with 34 seconds remaining on the clock. The clock would slowly tick down, and Arizona would go back to the free throw to attempt their 32nd and 33rd free throw of the game.
The Knights drop their third game of the year, falling to 14-3 overall and 3-2 in Big 12 play. The final score from Addition Financial Arena was 84-77 in favor of Arizona, remaining undefeated with 18 straight wins to start the season.
Leading both teams in scoring was UCF’s Themus Fulks with 30 points. For the Wildcats, Jaden Bradley led the scoresheet with 23 points.
Up next, the Knights are travelling to Ames, Iowa, to face #2 Iowa State on January 20th, with a 7:00 p.m. tip-off time. The Cyclones have lost two straight games since being ranked number 2 in the nation.
