Senior Themus Fulks kept UCF (14-3, 3-2 Big 12) competitive with a career-high 30 points, but the rest of the Knights shot a combined 33% from the field en route to an 84-77 loss to the #1 Arizona Wildcats in Saturday’s game at home.
The Wildcats’ offensive production was more distributed than the Knights, with five double-digit scorers to UCF’s three. UCF forward Jordan Burks contributed the most outside of Fulks with 16 points, nine of which came in the second half.
The UCF home crowd showed out in full effect with 10,000 recorded attendees. That marks the second-largest crowd in UCF history, behind 2017’s NIT matchup vs. Illinois.
UCF held a two-point lead early in the first four minutes of the game, but was unable to take another after that as Arizona was in the lead for 36 minutes.
Riley Kugel, who leads the Knights in scoring this season at 14.6 points per game, struggled from the field, posting a 5 of 18 shooting performance. However, it was not just Kugel who held back the offense. UCF’s bench posted just 11 points, which is the second-fewest amount this season.
The Knights trailed by as much as 15 in the first half, but came back to within only three at halftime, and shot 48% from the field. UCF was unable to carry that same efficiency to the final whistle, converting just 33% of shots in the second half.
The Knights’ next game against #2 Iowa State on Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. will be a tale of two teams wanting to bounce back after the Cyclones dropped one on the road against Cincinnati.
