UCF expects growing pains graduating to another brand of competitive basketball in the tough-as-nails Big 12.
The Knights unanimously were picked 14th out of 14 in the preseason poll.
With an eye toward preparing for the rugged league slate, the Knights will open their season on Monday against visiting Florida International in Orlando, Fla.
“Transitioning to a new conference, of course, is an opportunity to showcase who we are and what we’re capable of doing at that level, and we’re looking forward to that opportunity,” coach Johnny Dawkins said.
“We have a saying at our university, in our program: You have to earn everything. We want to earn everything we get going into a new conference. Our guys are excited about that and understand the task at hand.”
Dawkins is familiar with the power-conference life, having starred as a player at Duke and coached Stanford to two NIT titles.
UCF no longer has Taylor Hendricks, the ninth overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft by the Utah Jazz. Hendricks was the Knights’ leader in points (15.1), rebounds (7.0) and blocks (1.7) per game.
The top returnee is guard Darius Johnson, who led the team with 4.2 assists and 2.2 steals per game while putting up 10.0 ppg.
Dawkins feels the chemistry is coming together well for a group with 10 new players, including transfers Omar Payne (Florida, Illinois and Jacksonville), Ibrahima Diallo (Ohio State, San Jose State) and Shemarri Allen (17.0 ppg at UMKC last season).
Florida International is entering its sixth season under head coach Jeremy Ballard and its 11th in Conference-USA. The Panthers would like to make their second NCAA Tournament in program history (the first coming in 1995), but they were ranked seventh of nine in the league’s preseason poll.
The Panthers must move forward without Denver Jones (20.1 ppg last season), who transferred to Auburn. One major bright spot is Arturo Dean, who was named C-USA Freshman of the Year after averaging 11.9 points, 4.1 rebounds and a team-high 3.8 assists per game.
Dean also racked up 81 steals, tied for sixth-most nationally.
“The expectations (are) high for me still,” Dean told the Paws Up Podcast. “We’re going to do some big things this year, and I really believe that. We’ve been working real hard, I can see it in everyone’s face. And I know it’s early, but I can see that it’s a different energy in the building.”
–Field Level Media