• Central Florida enters play tonight with an even record of 11-11 (3-5 in Conference USA play). The Knights haven’t played since February 2nd, when they ended a three-game losing streak by beating East Carolina. Their other C-USA wins came at home against Rice and at Houston. UCF’s biggest win of the season came over Auburn last November. They also beat UMass to open their season (the same Minutemen that beat Memphis on December 19th).
• The Knights have never beaten the Tigers. The closest they’ve come in seven meetings — dating back to the 1972-73 season — was a seven-point loss last season, a game the Knights were leading at halftime.
• UCF’s scoring is distributed primarily among four players averaging nearly 10 points per game: junior A.J. Tyler (10.1), sophomore Isaac Sosa (9.8), freshman Keith Clanton (9.4), and sophomore A.J. Rompza (9.1).
• Coach Kirk Speraw is in his 17th year at the helm of the Knight program. His record stands at 275-227. Speraw has the longest current tenure of any coach in Conference USA.
• Having just been named Conference USA’s Player of the Week, Wesley Witherspoon will be aiming for his third consecutive game with at least 25 points. Elliot Williams had a seven-game streak of 20 or more points earlier this season, but didn’t score 25 in any of those.
• Tonight’s game will be the Tigers’ first since senior center Pierre Henderson-Niles was dismissed from the team. Look for junior Will Coleman to start in the middle, with a suddenly important backup role to be played by sophomore Angel Garcia. Making an early return from ACL surgery, Garcia made his playing debut (in limited minutes) against Gonzaga last Saturday.
• A victory for the Tigers would be the 1,400th in the program’s history.
