The UCF Knights have landed a No. 10 seed in the 2026 NCAA Tournament, as announced by the selection committee on Sunday night. UCF is coming off of a 81-59 loss to Arizona in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament on Thursday in Kansas City. UCF will take on No. 7 seed UCLA on Friday. If they win, they will play the winner of No. 2 UConn and No. 15 Furman on Sunday.
UCF 2025-26 Basketball Season
UCF has had a bit of an up-and-down year. They’ve had some massive wins, and they’ve also had some bad outings. Still, they’ve more than earned their spot, finishing the regular season at 21-11 overall and 9-9 in Big 12 play.
The Knights are led by a four-man group of Riley Kugel, Themus Fulks, Jordan Burks, and Jamichael Stillwell, who do most of the scoring for the squad. They’s posting 53.7 points per game, which has been the driving factor of their elite offense. Sophomore center John Bol, has also been a breakout candidate this season, averaging six points and 5.5 rebounds per game.
UCF is led by head coach Johnny Dawkins, who has steadily built the Knights into a competitive program capable of battling in one of the toughest conferences in college basketball. Now in his 10th season in Orlando, Dawkins holds an overall record of 189-131.
UCF NCAA Tournament History
Interestingly enough, the Knights don’t have much to show when it comes to NCAA Tournament history. The team has been to the Big Dance just five times in program history in 1994, 1996, 2004, 2005, and 2019.
Still, that doesn’t matter much in the grand scheme of things. Teams get hot and can go on a run at any given moment. UCF has the tools to make it happen, and now it’s all about going 1-0 from here on out.
