# 2018–19 UCF Knights men's basketball team

The 2018–19 UCF Knights men's basketball team represented the University of Central Florida during the 2018–19 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Knights were members of the American Athletic Conference. The Knights, in the program's 50th season of basketball, were led by third-year head coach Johnny Dawkins and played their home games at the CFE Arena on the university's main campus in Orlando, Florida. They finished the season 24–9, 13–5 in AAC play to finish in a tie for third place. They lost in the quarterfinals of the AAC tournament to Memphis. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament where they defeated VCU in the first round before losing in the second round to Duke.

## Previous season

The Knights finished the 2017–18 season 19–13 overall and 9–9 in AAC play to finish in sixth place. In the AAC tournament, they defeated East Carolina in the first round before losing to Houston in the quarterfinals. Despite having 19 wins, they did not participate in a postseason tournament.

## Offseason
### Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Reason for departure |
| A. J. Davis | 3 | G/F | 6'9" | 215 | RS Senior | Atlanta, GA | Graduated |
| Daniel Lewis | 13 | G | 6'5" | 175 | Freshman | Atlanta, GA | Transferred to Kennesaw State |
| Brock Stephenson | 20 | G | 6'0" | 190 | Sophomore | Miami, FL | Left team |
| Tate Morse | 25 | G | 6'4" | 165 | Senior | Orlando, FL | Graduated |
| Djordjije Mumin | 33 | G | 6'5" | 210 | Senior | Podgorica, Montenegro | Graduated |
| Nathan Laing | 51 | G | 6'1" | 185 | RS Senior | Lillington, NC | Graduated |

### Incoming transfers

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Previous school |
| Ibrahim Doumbia | 14 | C | 6'10" | 205 | Sophomore | Miami, FL | South Carolina |
| Frank Bertz | 20 | G | 6'5" | 175 | Junior | Hesperia, CA | East Los Angeles College |

### 2018 recruiting class

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight |
| Andreas Fuller Jr. SG | Saint Petersburg, FL | Saint Andrews School | 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) | 190 lb (86 kg) |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 75 ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2018 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved November 12, 2017. ||||||

## Schedule and results

On March 2, UCF defeated (#8 AP Poll/#6 Coaches Poll) Houston at Fertitta Center stopping the nation's longest home winning streak at 33. With the win UCF entered the AP Poll for the first time since the 2010–11 UCF Knights spent four weeks in the poll peaking at 19.
| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| October 29, 2018* 7:00 pm | | Flagler | W 86–69 | | CFE Arena Orlando, FL |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| November 6, 2018* 6:30 pm, ESPN3 | | Rider | W 84–70 | 1–0 | CFE Arena (4,870) Orlando, FL |
| November 11, 2018* 3:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Florida Atlantic | L 79–80 | 1–1 | CFE Arena (4,304) Orlando, FL |
| November 15, 2018* 1:30 pm, ESPN3 | | vs. Cal State Fullerton Myrtle Beach Invitational quarterfinal | W 68–52 | 2–1 | HTC Center (1,317) Conway, SC |
| November 16, 2018* 1:00 pm, ESPN2 | | vs. Saint Joseph's Myrtle Beach Invitational semifinal | W 77–57 | 3–1 | HTC Center (1,050) Conway, SC |
| November 18, 2018* 6:30 pm, ESPN2 | | vs. Western Kentucky Myrtle Beach Invitational championship | W 78–62 | 4–1 | HTC Center (3,018) Conway, SC |
| November 24, 2018* 6:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Northern Kentucky | W 66–53 | 5–1 | CFE Arena (3,374) Orlando, FL |
| November 29, 2018* 7:00 pm, ESPNU | | Alabama | W 70–64 | 6–1 | CFE Arena (4,449) Orlando, FL |
| December 2, 2018* 3:00 pm, ESPNU | | at Missouri | L 62–64 $^{OT}$ | 6–2 | Mizzou Arena (10,067) Columbia, MO |
| December 8, 2018* 1:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Grambling State | W 70–45 | 7–2 | CFE Arena (3,798) Orlando, FL |
| December 11, 2018* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Georgia Southern | W 95–88 | 8–2 | CFE Arena (3,632) Orlando, FL |
| December 16, 2018* 3:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Stetson | W 90–65 | 9–2 | CFE Arena (3,660) Orlando, FL |
| December 21, 2018* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Illinois State | W 77–56 | 10–2 | CFE Arena (3,885) Orlando, FL |
| AAC regular season ||||||
| January 2, 2019 7:00 pm, ESPNews | | Temple | W 78–73 | 11–2 (1–0) | CFE Arena (3,884) Orlando, FL |
| January 5, 2019 12:00 pm, ESPNews | | at UConn | W 65–53 | 12–2 (2–0) | XL Center (10,541) Hartford, CT |
| January 13, 2019 4:00 pm, ESPNU | | East Carolina | W 76–65 | 13–2 (3–0) | CFE Arena (4,692) Orlando, FL |
| January 16, 2019 10:00 pm, CBSSN | | at Wichita State | L 67–75 | 13–3 (3–1) | Charles Koch Arena (10,506) Wichita, KS |
| January 19, 2019 12:00 pm, ESPNU | | Tulsa | W 64–62 | 14–3 (4–1) | CFE Arena (4,155) Orlando, FL |
| January 23, 2019 8:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Tulane | W 75–50 | 15–3 (5–1) | Devlin Fieldhouse (1,308) New Orleans, LA |
| January 27, 2019 4:00 pm, CBSSN | | at Memphis | L 57–77 | 15–4 (5–2) | FedEx Forum (17,046) Memphis, TN |
| January 31, 2019 9:00 pm, ESPNU | | UConn | W 73–67 | 16–4 (6–2) | CFE Arena (5,016) Orlando, FL |
| February 7, 2019 7:00 pm, CBSSN | | No. 12 Houston | L 68–77 | 16–5 (6–3) | CFE Arena (6,292) Orlando, FL |
| February 10, 2019 2:00 pm, ESPNews | | at SMU | W 71–65 | 17–5 (7–3) | Moody Coliseum (5,989) Dallas, TX |
| February 13, 2019 7:00 pm, ESPNews | | South Florida War on I-4 | W 78–65 | 18–5 (8–3) | CFE Arena (4,719) Orlando, FL |
| February 16, 2019 6:00 pm, ESPN2 | | Memphis | W 79–72 | 19–5 (9–3) | CFE Arena (5,458) Orlando, FL |
| February 21, 2019 7:00 pm, ESPN2 | | at Cincinnati | L 55–60 | 19–6 (9–4) | Fifth Third Arena (12,377) Cincinnati, OH |
| February 24, 2019 12:00 pm, CBSSN | | SMU | W 95–48 | 20–6 (10–4) | CFE Arena (4,978) Orlando, FL |
| February 27, 2019 7:00 pm, ESPNews | | at South Florida War on I-4 | W 75–63 | 21–6 (11–4) | Yuengling Center (7,231) Tampa, FL |
| March 2, 2019 4:00 pm, ESPN | | at No. 8 Houston | W 69–64 | 22–6 (12–4) | Fertitta Center (7,039) Houston, TX |
| March 7, 2019 7:00 pm, ESPN2 | No. 25 | No. 20 Cincinnati | W 58–55 | 23–6 (13–4) | CFE Arena (9,141) Orlando, FL |
| March 9, 2019 4:00 pm, ESPN2 | No. 25 | at Temple | L 62–67 | 23–7 (13–5) | Liacouras Center (9,951) Philadelphia, PA |
| American Athletic Conference tournament ||||||
| March 15, 2019 3:00 pm, ESPN2 | (4) | at (5) Memphis Quarterfinals | L 55–79 | 23–8 | FedEx Forum (7,610) Memphis, TN |
| NCAA tournament ||||||
| March 22, 2019* 9:40 pm, CBS | (9 E) | vs. (8 E) VCU First Round | W 73–58 | 24–8 | Colonial Life Arena (16,219) Columbia, SC |
| March 24, 2019* 5:15 pm, CBS | (9 E) | vs. (1 E) No. 1 Duke Second Round | L 76–77 | 24–9 | Colonial Life Arena (16,332) Columbia, SC |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. E=East. All times are in Eastern Time. ||||||

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking — = Not ranked RV = Received votes :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | Final |
| AP | RV | — | — | — | RV | — | — | — | — | — | RV | RV | — | — | — | — | — | — | 25 | RV | Not released |
| Coaches | RV | RV^ | RV | RV | RV | — | RV | — | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | — | — | — | — | — | RV | RV | RV |
*AP does not release post-NCAA Tournament rankings ^Coaches did not release a Week 2 poll.