March 6, 2026; Morgantown, West Virginia, USA; UCF Knights forward Jamichel Stillwell (4), UCF Knights guard Temus Fulks (1), and UCF Knights guard Riley Kugel (2) jump for a rebound in the first minute of the second half during a game against the West Virginia Mountaineers at Hope Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Ben Queen-Imagn Images Eighth-seeded UCF will look to get back on track Wednesday afternoon when it takes on ninth-seeded Cincinnati in the second round of the Big 12 Conference tournament in Kansas City, Missouri.
There isn’t much to separate the two teams, other than the fact that Cincinnati needs to beat 16th-seeded Utah on Tuesday to advance to the second round.
The Knights (20-10) entered the first round of the tournament’s regular season league standings in a four-way tie for 7th place, including Cincinnati. Despite splitting two games against the Bearcats, UCF won the tiebreaker to clinch the eighth seed.
The Knights have lost three straight games, most recently a 77-62 loss at West Virginia on Friday. Riley Kugel and Themus Fulks led UCF with 16 points each, while Jordan Burks had 14 points and nine rebounds. The Knights lost despite holding a 40-28 edge in points in the paint and outscoring the host team 41-33.
“We knew we needed to have a game plan and we understood we needed to play the full 40 minutes,” UCF coach Johnny Dawkins said. “It was disappointing to see them not understand that we had to be fully focused the entire time.
“It’s just that kind of thing (it’s hurt us in the last three games). It’s simple, we’ve got to get through it. You know, nothing’s given to you in this league.”
Four players averaged double figures in scoring for the Knights, led by Kugel’s 14.7 points per game and Fulks’ 14.4 points.
Cincinnati (18-14) earned a 73-66 win over Utah in the first round on Tuesday to set up a rematch with the Knights. Jalen Celestin scored 19 points, Baba Miller added 11 points, 14 rebounds and six assists, and Mustafa Thiam had 14 points and 10 rebounds as the Bearcats recorded their seventh win in their last nine games.
Cincinnati endured a rough first 14 1/2 minutes before jumping out to a 15-2 run to take a nine-point lead at halftime.
“I thought we did a good job after getting the jitters out of the way,” Bearcats coach Wes Miller said. “In the first half, we stayed with our defense, then we started rebounding and running, and we had a little cap early on, but our defense kept us in it. I thought we played well out there for a while.”
Baba Miller leads Cincinnati in points (13.3), rebounds (10.3) and assists (3.7) per game.
–Field level media
