UCF coach Johnny Dawkins knows his Knights don’t have the luxury of sulking about losing at home to Baylor on Saturday.
The Knights (20-8, 9-7 Big 12) host Oklahoma State (17-12, 5-11) Tuesday in a Big 12 game in Orlando, Fla.
UCF, which is projected between a No. 8 and a No. 10 seed in the NCAA Tournament by the experts, can’t afford any more slips. The Knights finish the regular season Saturday at West Virginia.
UCF used a 17-6 run to tie Baylor with 25 seconds left, only to watch Obi Agbim make a free throw with 1.3 seconds left to seal the 87-86 win.
The Knights were riding a three-game winning streak, including a 97-84 win at then-No. 19 BYU.
“We have to be ready to move on to the next play,” Dawkins said. “This league is very challenging from top to bottom. I’ve said it all season long, and ever since I’ve been in the Big 12, every team is very good. You need to move forward understanding that the next game is the most important game that you have. The game that’s behind you is gone, the next game is the most important and understand you have to stay in the moment.”
The Knights continue to have a balanced scoring attack, led by seniors Riley Kugel (14.5 ppg) and Themus Fulks (14.1 ppg). Jordan Burks averages 13.4 points per game and Jamichael Stillwell has 11.8 ppg and leads the team with 7.8 rebounds per game.
Oklahoma State is coming off a 91-68 loss at Cincinnati, where its road woes continue. The Cowboys are just 2-7 away from home this year.
“We did not perform well (Saturday),” coach Steve Lutz said. “We did not play our best basketball. So now we get to go home and figure out what our next step is. I like the direction our team is headed and I see good things for Oklahoma State basketball in the near future.”
The Cowboys are led by senior guard Anthony Roy, who averages 16.3 ppg.
Parsa Fallah, who was leading the team with six rebounds a game and was scoring 14.7 ppg, was lost for the season when he tore his ACL on a dunk in the closing seconds of an overtime win over West Virginia on Feb. 24.
