The 2020–21 UCF Knights men's basketball team represented the University of Central Florida during the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Knights were members of the American Athletic Conference. The Knights, in the program's 52nd season of basketball, were led by fifth-year head coach Johnny Dawkins and played their home games at the Addition Financial Arena on the university's main campus in Orlando, Florida. They finished the season 11–12, 8–10 in AAC Play to finish in 6th place. They defeated East Carolina in the first round of the AAC tournament before losing in the quarterfinals to Memphis.

Previous season The Knights finished the 2019–20 season 16–14 overall and 7–11 in AAC play to finish in eighth place. They entered as the No. 8 seed in the AAC tournament, which was ultimately cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Offseason Departures Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Reason for departure Yuat Alok 0 F 6'11" 225 Auckland, New Zealand Transferred to Southern Utah (mid-season) Matt Milon 2 G 6'5" 210 Oviedo, FL Completed college eligibility Ceasar DeJesus 4 G 6'2" 190 Jersey City, NJ Play professionally Dazon Ingram 12 G 6'6" 205 Theodore, AL Completed college eligibility Frank Bertz 20 G 6'5" 180 Hesperia, CA Graduated Collin Smith 35 F 6'11" 240 Jacksonville, FL Left the team due to health issues

Incoming transfers Name Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Notes Darius Perry G 185 Marietta, GA Transferred from Louisville after graduating. Had one year of eligibility beginning immediately. C. J. Walker F 205 Sanford, FA Transferred from Oregon. Walker was granted a waiver for immediate eligibility. Had three years of remaining eligibility.

2020 recruiting class

Preseason AAC preseason media poll

On October 28, The American released the preseason poll and other preseason awards

Coaches Poll 1 Houston 99 (2) 2 Memphis 90 (2) 3 SMU 80 4 Cincinnati 77 5 South Florida 61 6 Tulsa 50 7 Wichita State 44 8 UCF 37 9 East Carolina 34 10 Temple 18 11 Tulane 15

Roster

Schedule and results UCF started a series with Michigan beginning this season in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

COVID-19 impact

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Knights' schedule was subject to change, including the cancellation or postponement of individual games, the cancellation of the entire season, or games played either with minimal fans or without fans in attendance and just essential personnel.

The game vs. Oklahoma scheduled for November 28 was cancelled due to COVID-19 issues. The game @ Tulsa rescheduled for March 2 was moved to Orlando. The game vs. Tulsa originally scheduled for February 6 was moved to Tulsa.

Schedule

!colspan=9 style=| Regular season

!colspan=9 style=|American Athletic Conference tournament

Awards and honors American Athletic Conference honors All-AAC Third Team Brandon Mahan Darius Perry

All-AAC Freshman Team Isaiah Adams

Source

References