TIME: 7.
RADIO: 740 AM (WQTM).
RECORDS: UCF 17-7, 9-2 Atlantic Sun; Jacksonville 10-12, 5-5.
STORY LINE: The Golden Knights will begin a five-game sprint to the end of the regular season — with a chance to have their best regular season since joining Division I in 1984-85. UCF has won 20 games only once in Division I, a 21-9 mark in Coach Kirk Speraw’s first season, 1993-94. Tonight’s game has a bitter background. A year ago, Jacksonville prevented UCF from winning its 18th game. UCF lost in overtime after a Dolphins player was permitted to stay on the floor after committing his fifth foul. Jacksonville, 6-3 at home after starting A-Sun play 0-2 at home, has a strong backcourt and must find ways to limit Ray Abellard, Dexter Lyons and Ed Dotson.
THE BUZZ: Jacksonville has been the most disappointing team in the A-Sun, and UCF hammered JU 72-48 in Orlando on Jan. 20. The Knights come off their best back-to-back offensive games of the year, scoring 180 points and beating Campbell and Gardner-Webb by a combined 52 points.
FLORIDA ATLANTIC AT STETSON
TIME: 7.
RECORDS: FAU 7-16, 3-8 Atlantic Sun; Stetson 5-15, 3-8.
STORY LINE: FAU has been a big disappointment after winning the A-Sun title last season; this season, the Owls are bottom-feeders. Stetson, meanwhile, was expected to struggle, and it has. The Hatters are coming off perhaps their best game of the season, an 85-80 upset at Belmont, one of the league’s best teams.
THE BUZZ: FAU beat Stetson in Boca Raton earlier this season. Stetson senior F Alexis McMillan leads the nation in steals, at 4.1 per game. He leads the Hatters in scoring. Only the top eight teams in the A-Sun qualify for the league tournament, and neither of these teams appears likely to make it.
