Central Florida @ Houston preview

Last Meeting ( Mar 2, 2019 ) Central Florida 69, Houston 64

Houston looks to build off a strong run to the Diamond Head Classic championship in Hawaii when it begins American Athletic Conference play Friday night against visiting Central Florida. The Cougars have won four in a row overall, including a come-from-behind 75-71 victory over Washington in the Diamond Head final, and look to avenge a loss to UCF last season that ended their 33-game home-court winning streak.

The defending AAC regular-season champion have shown Kelvin Sampson plenty of progress over the first few months and the Houston coach told reporters after the triumph in Honolulu that he expects his team to be even better in league play. “Earlier in the year you could tell we were trying to figure out who we were, just searching for an identity, but we hung in there and kept working,” Sampson said of the Cougars, who dropped two of their first four contests (BYU, Oregon) before winning eight of the last nine. The Knights, who lost six of their top seven scorers from last season’s NCAA Tournament team, are a work in progress and learned plenty of lessons in the AAC opener Tuesday when they coughed up a seven-point lead at home in the final six minutes of a 62-58 loss to Temple. “Coming down the stretch, that’s when you’ve got to be the most connected,” UCF coach Johnny Dawkins told the Orlando Sentinel. “Guys that have played together longer are going to be more connected. … Our guys are trying to figure that out in one season. … They’ll figure it out, based on being in moments like they’ve been in the last couple games. That will help them grow.”

TIME: 7 p.m. ET. TV: ESPN2

ABOUT UCF (9-4, 0-1 AAC): Junior forward Collin Smith had one of his better games last season at Houston (21 points, seven boards) and leads the way for the Knights in 2019-20, scoring 13.3 per game after being limited to 10 on Tuesday by foul trouble. Junior guard Ceasar DeJesus is the only other player averaging in double figures scoring for UCF at 10.5 while Alabama transfer Dazon Ingram chips in 9.4 points along with team highs of 7.5 rebounds and 3.9 assists. Freshman guard Darin Green Jr. scores 8.9 per game and leads the team with 24 made 3-pointers, but was 1-for-6 behind the arc versus Temple.

ABOUT HOUSTON (10-3, 0-0): Fabian White Jr. scored 44 points on 17-of-30 shooting from the field at the Diamond Head Classic to push his season average to 11.0, and the junior forward was named the tournament’s most outstanding player. Sophomore guard Quentin Grimes, a Kansas transfer, also had a big tournament with 58 points and leads the offense overall with 15.2 per contest. Freshman guard Caleb Mills (12.3 points) scored 19 against Washington while sophomore guard Nate Hinton (12.2 points) collected 27 boards in Hawaii, and leads the team at 9.2 per game.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. UCF freshman G Dre Fuller Jr. (7.5 points) scored a season-high 14 against Temple on 6-of-9 from the field.

2. Houston junior G DeJon Jarreau, a preseason AAC first-team pick, leads the team in assists (3.4).

3. The Cougars lead the league in rebound margin (plus-11.7) while the Knights are ninth (plus-3.2).

PREDICTION: Houston 77, UCF 65