# 2016–17 UCF Knights men's basketball team

The 2016–17 UCF Knights men's basketball team represented the University of Central Florida during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Knights were members of the American Athletic Conference. The Knights, in the program's 48th season of basketball, were led by first-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 24–12, 11–7 in AAC play to finish in fourth place. They defeated Memphis in the quarterfinals of the AAC tournament before losing in the semifinals to SMU. They were invited to the National Invitation Tournament where they defeated Colorado, Illinois State and Illinois to advance to the semifinals at Madison Square Garden for the first time in school history where they lost to the eventual NIT Champion, TCU.

## Previous season

The Knights finished the season with a record of 12–18, 6–12 in AAC play to finish in seventh place in conference. They lost in the first round of the AAC tournament to Tulane.
After the season, Donnie Jones was fired as UCF's head coach. On March 24, 2016, the school hired Johnny Dawkins as head coach.

## Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Brandan Boyle | 00 | G | 6'1" | 190 | Freshman | Rahway, NJ | Transferred to ASA College |
| Daiquan Walker | 4 | G | 6'2" | 185 | Senior | Philadelphia, PA | Graduated |
| Adonys Henriquez | 10 | G | 6'6" | 210 | Sophomore | Orlando, FL | Transferred to Saint Louis |
| Shaheed Davis | 33 | F | 6'9" | 210 | Senior | Warren, OH | Graduated |
| Justin McBride | 34 | C | 6'10" | 325 | Junior | Starke, FL | Transferred to Valdosta State |
| Stephon Blair | 52 | F | 6'9" | 255 | Senior | Fort Lauderdale, FL | Graduated |

### Incoming transfers

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Previous School |
| Terrell Allen | 2 | G | 6'2" | 180 | Sophomore | Upper Marlboro, MD | Transferred from Drexel. Under NCAA transfer rules, Allen will have to sit out for the 2016–17 season. Will have three years of remaining eligibility. |
| Dayon Griffin | 10 | G | 6'5" | 188 | Junior | St. Petersburg, FL | Transferred from Louisiana Tech. Under NCAA transfer rules, Griffin will have to sit out for the 2016–17 season. Will have two years of remaining eligibility. |
| Rokas Ulvydas | 11 | F | 6'11" | 240 | Junior | Kaunas, Lithuania | Transferred from Texas Tech. Under NCAA transfer rules, Ulvydas will have to sit out for the 2016–17 season. Will have two years of remaining eligibility. |
| Nick Banyard | 14 | F | 6'8" | 225 | RS Senior | Flower Mound, TX | Transferred from Illinois State. Will be eligible to play immediately since Banyard graduated from Illinois State. |
| Aubrey Dawkins | 15 | G/F | 6'6" | 205 | Junior | Palo Alto, CA | Transferred from Michigan. Under NCAA transfer rules, Dawkins will have to sit out for the 2016–17 season. Will have two years of remaining eligibility. |

## Incoming recruits

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Clayton Hughes SF | Jackson, TN | University School of Jackson | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | 190 lb (86 kg) | Sep 10, 2015 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Caesar DeJesus SF | Teaneck, NJ | Mount Zion Baptist Christian School | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | 165 lb (75 kg) | May 17, 2016 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| 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: "2016 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved June 28, 2016. ||||||

### Recruiting class of 2017

US college sports recruiting information for 2017 recruits :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Daniel Lewis SG | Atlanta, GA | Westlake High School | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | 175 lb (79 kg) | May 17, 2016 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR |||||||
| 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: "2017 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved June 28, 2016. |||||||

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| 11/14/2016* 5:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Nicholls State | W 80–56 | 1–0 | CFE Arena (5,274) Orlando, FL |
| 11/17/2016* 5:00 pm, ESPN2 | | vs. Mississippi State Charleston Classic quarterfinals | W 86–61 | 2–0 | TD Arena (3,430) Charleston, SC |
| 11/18/2016* 9:30 pm, ESPNU | | at College of Charleston Charleston Classic semifinals | W 60–40 | 3–0 | TD Arena (3,517) Charleston, SC |
| 11/20/2016* 9:30 pm, ESPN2 | | vs. No. 3 Villanova Charleston Classic championship game | L 57–67 | 3–1 | TD Arena (4,325) Charleston, SC |
| 11/26/2016* 7:30 pm, ESPN3 | | Seattle | W 67–51 | 4–1 | CFE Arena (6,804) Orlando, FL |
| 11/30/2016* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Stetson | W 81–45 | 5–1 | CFE Arena (5,284) Orlando, FL |
| 12/03/2016* 1:00 pm | | at Massachusetts | W 65–62 | 6–1 | Mullins Center (3,911) Amherst, MA |
| 12/10/2016* 2:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Maryland Eastern Shore | W 76–58 | 7–1 | CFE Arena (3,579) Orlando, FL |
| 12/12/2016* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Penn | L 49–58 | 7–2 | CFE Arena (3,088) Orlando, FL |
| 12/15/2016* 7:00 pm | | at George Washington | L 59–74 | 7–3 | Charles E. Smith Center (2,891) Washington, D.C. |
| 12/18/2016* 12:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Miami (OH) | W 80–73 $^{OT}$ | 8–3 | CFE Arena (2,939) Orlando, FL |
| 12/21/2016* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Bethune–Cookman | W 71–41 | 9–3 | CFE Arena (3,348) Orlando, FL |
| AAC regular season ||||||
| 12/28/2016 8:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Tulane | W 85–72 | 10–3 (1–0) | Devlin Fieldhouse (3,906) New Orleans, LA |
| 12/31/2016 4:00 pm, ESPNU | | Temple | W 77–53 | 11–3 (2–0) | CFE Arena (3,906) Orlando, FL |
| 01/03/2017 7:15 pm, ESPNews | | East Carolina | W 48–45 | 12–3 (3–0) | CFE Arena (3,088) Orlando, FL |
| 01/08/2017 5:00 pm, CBSSN | | at UConn | L 49–64 | 12–4 (3–1) | Gampel Pavilion (8,163) Storrs, CT |
| 01/14/2017 4:00 pm, CBSSN | | Houston | W 77–70 | 13–4 (4–1) | CFE Arena (5,489) Orlando, FL |
| 01/17/2017 7:00 pm, ESPNews | | South Florida Rivalry | W 86–64 | 14–4 (5–1) | CFE Arena (5,765) Orlando, FL |
| 01/22/2017 4:00 pm, CBSSN | | at Memphis | L 65–70 | 14–5 (5–2) | FedEx Forum (9,625) Memphis, TN |
| 01/25/2017 6:00 pm, ESPNews | | SMU | L 60–65 | 14–6 (5–3) | CFE Arena (4,620) Orlando, FL |
| 01/28/2017 1:30 pm, ESPNews | | at Tulsa | L 66–77 | 14–7 (5–4) | Reynolds Center (4,281) Tulsa, OK |
| 02/01/2017 7:00 pm, ESPNU | | at Houston | L 64–82 | 14–8 (5–5) | Hofheinz Pavilion (3,681) Houston, TX |
| 02/04/2017 5:00 pm, ESPNews | | Memphis | W 72–57 | 15–8 (6–5) | CFE Arena (5,463) Orlando, FL |
| 02/08/2016 9:00 pm, ESPNU | | at No. 11 Cincinnati | L 50–60 | 15–9 (6–6) | Fifth Third Arena (4,229) Cincinnati, OH |
| 02/11/2017 6:00 pm, CBSSN | | UConn | L 63–66 | 15–10 (6–7) | CFE Arena (5,215) Orlando, FL |
| 02/14/2016 7:00 pm, ESPNews | | Tulsa | W 71–53 | 16–10 (7–7) | CFE Arena (3,528) Orlando, FL |
| 02/18/2017 4:00 pm, ESPNews | | at East Carolina | W 61–58 | 17–10 (8–7) | Williams Arena (4,518) Greenville, NC |
| 02/22/2017 7:00 pm, ESPNU | | at Temple | W 71–69 | 18–10 (9–7) | Liacouras Center (5,073) Philadelphia, PA |
| 02/26/2017 3:00 pm, CBSSN | | No. 15 Cincinnati | W 53–49 | 19–10 (10–7) | CFE Arena (5,763) Orlando, FL |
| 03/02/2017 7:00 pm, ESPNU | | at South Florida Rivalry | W 59–56 | 20–10 (11–7) | USF Sun Dome (3,120) Tampa, FL |
| American Athletic Conference tournament ||||||
| 03/10/2017 2:00 pm, ESPN2 | (4) | vs. (5) Memphis Quarterfinals | W 84–54 | 21–10 | XL Center (1,844) Hartford, CT |
| 03/11/2017 3:00 pm, ESPN2 | (4) | vs. (1) No. 12 SMU Semifinals | L 59–70 | 21–11 | XL Center (8,117) Hartford, CT |
| NIT ||||||
| 03/15/2017* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | (4) | (5) Colorado First Round – Illinois State Bracket | W 79–74 | 22–11 | CFE Arena (3,675) Orlando, FL |
| 03/20/2017* 7:00 pm, ESPN | (4) | at (1) Illinois State Second Round – Illinois State Bracket | W 63–62 | 23–11 | Redbird Arena (7,984) Normal, IL |
| 03/22/2017* 7:00 pm, ESPN2 | (4) | (2) Illinois Quarterfinals – Illinois State Bracket | W 68–58 | 24–11 | CFE Arena (10,011) Orlando, FL |
| 03/28/2017* 9:00 pm, ESPN | (4) | vs. (4) TCU Semifinals | L 53–68 | 24–12 | Madison Square Garden (5,210) New York, NY |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time. ||||||