The UCF Knights will be at Donald Reynolds Center to take on the Tulsa Golden Hurricane in an American Athletic Conference matchup. The game starts at 3:00 pm ET on Sunday, Jan. 24 and will air on ES3.
The Golden Hurricane were victorious over East Carolina 84-69 the last time they played. James Woodard was the game’s high scorer with 22 points on 6-for-9 shooting. The Knights, meanwhile, are coming off a 64-54 win over South Florida in their last outing. A.J. Davis had a good game and claimed his second double-double of the season, recording 22 points and 10 rebounds.
Over the last five games, Davis has been on a tear for the Knights. During that stretch, he has averaged 16.8 points, 6.0 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 0.8 steals, 1.0 block, and 0.8 three-pointers.
Tulsa is a heavy 11-point favorite at home and the Over/Under (O/U) for this matchup is 142 points. The Golden Hurricane enter the game with records of 12-6 Straight Up (SU) and 9-7-1 Against The Spread (ATS). Tulsa has given up very few turnovers with an average of only 11.1 per game.
Across the court, UCF has a SU record of 10-6 and an ATS record of 12-2. UCF has done particularly well ATS over its past 10 matchups, going 7-2. The Knights rank 38th in the country in road scoring, averaging 77 points per game. UCF is one of the better rebounding teams in Division I. The Knights average 40.3 rebounds per game, making them the 39th-best team in the country for that category. Switching gears to the UCF defense, teams seem to consistently miss three-point shots against the Knights, who are the 37th-best team in the country in terms of three-point field goal percentage allowed at .309.
This is the first meeting of the season for these conference rivals. The last time they played, Tulsa came out on top, moving its SU record against UCF to 6-4 in their most recent head-to-head meetings. However, UCF leads the matchup ATS with a record of 5-4-1. When it comes to field goals, rebounds, and three-pointers, Tulsa held the edge in all three of these categories once in the last five meetings. UCF never did so in those games.
Predictions: SU Winner – Tulsa, ATS Winner – UCF, O/U – Over
Notes
Tulsa is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games.
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Tulsa’s last 7 games at home.
Tulsa is 4-1 SU in its last 5 games at home.
Tulsa is 4-7-1 ATS in its last 12 games when playing Central Florida.
Tulsa is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing at home against Central Florida.
UCF scores 77.0 points per away game (ranked 38th). Tulsa ranks a poor 177th in points allowed at home, allowing 68.1 points.
UCF beats Tulsa in both possessions per game and points per possession. The Knights average 68.8 possessions and 1.098 points per possession, while the Golden Hurricane average 68.7 possessions with 1.073 points per possession.
The Tulsa Golden Hurricane average an effective field goal percentage of 51.3% this season. The UCF Knights are 2-3 when opponents have an eFG% of 51.3% or greater.
On average, Tulsa attempts 21.0 three pointers and UCF attempts 20.0. Both teams have winning records when they have 20 or more three point attempts. The Tulsa Golden Hurricane sit at 9-4 and the UCF Knights are 6-3.
UCF, the 47th-ranked team in blocked shots, registers an average of 4.9 per game. Tulsa does worse, ranked 247th with 2.8.
Tulsa ranks 274th in offensive rebounds, while UCF ranks 14th in defensive rebounds.
Tulsa averages a forced turnover rate of 21.7% this season. UCF has a 4-3 record when it suffers a turnover rate equal to or exceeding this.
