# 2017–18 UCF Knights men's basketball team

The 2017–18 UCF Knights men's basketball team represented the University of Central Florida during the 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Knights are members of the American Athletic Conference. The Knights, in the program's 49th season of basketball, were led by second-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 19–13 overall and 9–9 in AAC play to finish in 6th place. In the AAC tournament, they defeated East Carolina in the first round before losing to Houston in the quarterfinals.

## Previous season

The Knights finished the 2016–17 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 received an invitation 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. There they lost to the eventual NIT Champion, TCU.

## Offseason
### Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Reason for departure |
| Tank Efinanayi | 0 | G/F | 6'6" | 210 | Senior | Orlando, FL | Graduated |
| Matt Williams | 12 | G | 6'5" | 215 | RS Senior | Orlando, FL | Graduated |
| Nick Banyard | 14 | F | 6'8" | 230 | RS Senior | Flower Mound, TX | Graduated |

### Incoming transfers

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Previous school |
| Collin Smith | 15 | C | 6'10" | 240 | Sophomore | Jacksonville, FL | Transferred from George Washington. Under NCAA transfer rules, Smith will have to sit out from the 2017–18 season. Will have three years of remaining eligibility. |

### 2017 recruiting class

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Myles Douglas #64 PF | Aberdeen, MD | Aberdeen High School | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | 175 lb (79 kg) | Jul 12, 2016 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 75 ||||||
| 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 November 12, 2017. ||||||

### 2018 recruiting class

US college sports recruiting information for 2018 recruits :
| 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

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| Nov 10, 2017* 8:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Mercer | W 88–79 | 1–0 | CFE Arena (6,167) Orlando, FL |
| Nov 15, 2017* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Gardner–Webb | W 68–65 | 2–0 | CFE Arena (4,016) Orlando, FL |
| Nov 18, 2017* 2:00 pm, ESPN3 | | William & Mary | W 75–64 | 3–0 | CFE Arena (4,143) Orlando, FL |
| Nov 23, 2017* 6:00 pm, ESPN3 | | vs. Nebraska AdvoCare Invitational quarterfinals | W 68–59 | 4–0 | HP Field House (3,348) Lake Buena Vista, FL |
| Nov 24, 2017* 8:30 pm, ESPN2 | | vs. No. 23 West Virginia AdvoCare Invitational semifinals | L 45–83 | 4–1 | HP Field House (2,834) Lake Buena Vista, FL |
| Nov 26, 2017* 12:00 pm, ESPNU | | vs. St. John's AdvoCare Invitational 3rd place game | L 43–46 | 4–2 | HP Field House (1,712) Lake Buena Vista, FL |
| Nov 30, 2017* 9:00 pm, ESPN2 | | Missouri | L 59–62 | 4–3 | CFE Arena (5,122) Orlando, FL |
| Dec 3, 2017* 2:00 pm, ESPNU | | at No. 24 Alabama | W 65–62 | 5–3 | Coleman Coliseum (13,534) Tuscaloosa, AL |
| Dec 9, 2017* 1:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Southern | W 76–60 | 6–3 | CFE Arena (4,139) Orlando, FL |
| Dec 12, 2017* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Southeastern Louisiana | W 61–53 | 7–3 | CFE Arena (3,449) Orlando, FL |
| Dec 19, 2017* 6:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Stetson | W 74–55 | 8–3 | Edmunds Center (1,918) DeLand, FL |
| Dec 21, 2017* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | South Carolina State | W 89–64 | 9–3 | CFE Arena (3,055) Orlando, FL |
| AAC regular season ||||||
| Dec 27, 2017 9:00 pm, ESPN2 | | at SMU | L 51–56 | 9–4 (0–1) | Moody Coliseum (6,628) Dallas, TX |
| Dec 31, 2017 4:00 pm, ESPNews | | at East Carolina | W 59–39 | 10–4 (1–1) | Williams Arena (2,946) Greenville, NC |
| Jan 3, 2018 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Memphis | W 65–56 | 11–4 (2–1) | CFE Arena (4,298) Orlando, FL |
| Jan 7, 2018 12:00 pm, CBSSN | | Temple | W 60–39 | 12–4 (3–1) | CFE Arena (4,010) Orlando, FL |
| Jan 10, 2018 7:00 pm, CBSSN | | at UConn | L 53–62 | 12–5 (3–2) | Harry A. Gampel Pavilion (5,065) Storrs, CT |
| Jan 16, 2018 7:00 pm, CBSSN | | No. 12 Cincinnati | L 38–49 | 12–6 (3–3) | CFE Arena (7,565) Orlando, FL |
| Jan 20, 2018 6:00 pm, ESPNews | | at South Florida Rivalry | W 71–69 | 13–6 (4–3) | USF Sun Dome (4,611) Tampa, FL |
| Jan 25, 2018 9:00 pm, ESPN2 | | at No. 17 Wichita State | L 62–81 | 13–7 (4–4) | Charles Koch Arena (10,506) Wichita, KS |
| Jan 31, 2018 9:00 pm, CBSSN | | UConn | W 70–61 | 14–7 (5–4) | CFE Arena (5,233) Orlando, FL |
| Feb 3, 2018 12:00 pm, ESPNU | | Houston | L 65–69 | 14–8 (5–5) | CFE Arena (4,301) Orlando, FL |
| Feb 6, 2018 7:00 pm, CBSSN | | at No. 6 Cincinnati | L 40–77 | 14–9 (5–6) | BB&T Arena (8,673) Highland Heights, KY |
| Feb 11, 2018 4:00 pm, CBSSN | | at Memphis | W 68–64 | 15–9 (6–6) | FedEx Forum (7,163) Memphis, TN |
| Feb 14, 2018 6:00 pm, ESPNU | | South Florida Rivalry | W 72–57 | 16–9 (7–6) | CFE Arena (4,310) Orlando, FL |
| Feb 17, 2018 11:00 am, ESPNU | | SMU | W 52–37 | 17–9 (8–6) | CFE Arena (4,016) Orlando, FL |
| Feb 21, 2018 9:00 pm, ESPNews | | at Tulsa | L 61–70 | 17–10 (8–7) | Reynolds Center (3,342) Tulsa, OK |
| Feb 25, 2018 2:00 pm, ESPNU | | at Temple | L 56–75 | 17–11 (8–8) | Liacouras Center (7,119) Philadelphia, PA |
| Mar 1, 2018 7:00 pm, ESPN | | No. 11 Wichita State | L 71-75 $^{OT}$ | 17–12 (8–9) | CFE Arena (5,930) Orlando, FL |
| Mar 4, 2018 4:30 pm, ESPNU | | Tulane | W 60–51 | 18–12 (9–9) | CFE Arena (4,420) Orlando, FL |
| American Athletic Conference tournament ||||||
| Mar 8, 2018 8:30 p:m, ESPNU | (6) | vs. (11) East Carolina First Round | W 66–52 | 19–12 | Amway Center (7,918) Orlando, FL |
| Mar 9, 2018 9:00 p:m, ESPNU | (6) | vs. (3) No. 21 Houston Quarterfinals | L 56–84 | 19–13 | Amway Center (8,680) Orlando, FL |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time. ||||||