After a victorious road rally against a Southeastern Conference opponent, UCF will look for its third straight victory Monday night when it hosts Oakland in Orlando, Florida.
Friday night in College Station, Texas, coach Johnny Dawkins’ Knights trailed by 14 points with just over a dozen minutes remaining in their matchup with Texas A&M and new coach Bucky McMillan.
Led by Jordan Burks’ 21 total points and Carmelo Pacheco’s 15, the Knights (3-1) fought back and earned an 86-74 victory in their second game against an SEC opponent this season. They lost 105-93 to Vanderbilt on November 8.
Games against the Aggies and Commodores, strong programs in the SEC, will surely help the Knights take on their Big 12 competition.
“Life in the Big 12 can be tough,” Dawkins told NBC Sports. “It’s very, very tough. It’s the best basketball conference in the country. You have the best coaches in the country, the best players. It’s a situation where every night I don’t care if you’re home or away, it’s like a tournament game.”
A 6-foot-5 junior guard, Pacheco (9.3 points per game) produced back-to-back strong outings, scoring a team-high 17 in 18 minutes in a win over Florida A&M before his 15 at Texas.
Riley Kugel leads with 18.0 points per game, followed by Burks with 13.5.
Oakland (1-3) finally took a break from the schedule and beat Defiance 113-47 last Saturday in its home opener behind 18 points from Brett White II and 17 each from Brody Robinson and Tuburu Naivalurua. Nate Deer had a game-high 11 points and 10 rebounds.
The Golden Grizzlies led by 47 at halftime and scored 72 points in the paint.
In their first three competitions, the Horizon League school lost by double digits on the road to the then No. 1 seed. 7 Michigan, then-No. 1 Purdue and No. 1 Houston before finally returning home to face Defiance (Ohio), an NAIA program.
“It was good to open our season and finally play at home. It’s been a tough start with one of the toughest schedules ever played,” said coach Greg Kampe. “To be able to go home, play with everyone for a lot of minutes, go up and down and press.”
Isaac Garrett leads with 15.2 points per game, followed by Naivalurua and Ziare Wells with 13 each. Wells paces the team with 7.2 rebounds.
–Field level media
