UCF goes to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2018-19

After a seven-year absence, UCF is returning to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.

The Knights earned an at-large bid to the 68-team area on Sunday and might be headed to the East Region. It’s the sixth general look in the NCAA Tournament, however the first since the 2018-19 season.

Tenth-seeded UCF (21-11, 9-9 Big 12) will face seventh-seeded UCLA (23-11, 13-7 Big Ten) in the first-round matchup at the Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia on Friday. The winner will face both the 2nd-seeded UConn or Fifteenth-seeded Furman in the second spherical.

There was loads of nervousness surrounding Knight Nation over the previous few weeks.

After a dominating 97-84 win at then-No. 19 BYU on Feb. 24, UCF ended the season on a three-game dropping streak. The Knights dropped a pair of house video games to Baylor and Oklahoma State earlier than being routed on the highway to West Virginia.

Despite its season-ending struggles, UCF earned a first-round bye in the Big 12 Tournament. The Knights defeated Cincinnati, 66-65 in additional time of their second-round matchup earlier than being thumped by top-seeded Arizona in the quarterfinals, 81-59.

To their credit score, the Knights had a powerful resume that includes 5 Quad 1 wins over Texas A&M, Kansas, Texas Tech, BYU and TCU.

UCF is 1-5 general in NCAA Tournament video games, with its final victory coming towards VCU in the first spherical of the 2018-19 tourney.

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