Entering his 10th season at the helm, head coach Johnny Dawkins and the UCF men’s basketball team announced their non-conference schedule, a slate highlighted by two NCAA Tournament participants.
The Knights will play nine home games, one true road contest, and a pair of neutral-site matchups. The schedule features three first-time opponents and includes the program’s first-ever trip to College Station, Texas.
For the 10th consecutive season, UCF will tip off the year at home on Nov. 3, hosting Hofstra in what marks the first meeting between the two programs. The Knights then welcome Vanderbilt, an NCAA qualifier last season, to Addition Financial Arena on Nov. 8, followed by a matchup with Florida A&M on Nov. 11.
UCF’s first road test comes on Nov. 14 when the Knights travel to Texas A&M for their first-ever game in College Station. The Aggies finished fifth in the SEC a year ago and earned a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Knights then return to Orlando to host Oakland on Nov. 17, another first-time meeting.
The Knights will then make a short trip north to Daytona Beach for their first neutral-site game of the season, squaring off against Pitt out of the ACC.
A five-game homestand awaits as UCF hosts Quinnipiac (Nov. 25), VMI (Nov. 29), Towson (Dec. 7), Mercer (Dec. 17) and FGCU (Dec. 20). The game against Quinnipiac will mark the first meeting between the two programs on the hardwood.
The Black and Gold wrap up their non-conference slate against Florida Atlantic at a neutral site on December 23. The Sunshine State rivalry will feature the 33rd matchup in program history, with the Knights leading the series 23-10.
The Knights’ Big 12 Conference schedule — featuring 18 games — will be released in the near future. While exact dates are still to come, the home and away opponents were revealed in the Big 12 matrix on June 12.
UCF will face Arizona, Arizona State, Baylor, Kansas, TCU, and Texas Tech exclusively at home. The Knights will play Cincinnati, Oklahoma State, and West Virginia both home and away. Meanwhile, road-only opponents include BYU, Colorado, Houston, Iowa State, Kansas State, and Utah.