Two Things UCF Basketball Learned From Arizona Loss

The UCF Knights might have secured a bid to the NCAA Tournament, but their run in the Big 12 Tournament came to an end Thursday afternoon at the hands of 1-seed Arizona.

Here are the two most important lessons the Knights could learn from this game, as, from this point forward, a loss means the end of their season:

1. Don't Fall Into A Hole You Can't Get Yourself Out Of

The Knights are not a team to be counted out easily. In fact, they've won five games this season in which they've trailed by 10 points or more, including the day before against Cincinnati. On Thursday, Arizona put them into a hole that they could not get themselves out of.

The Wildcats ended up building a 27-point lead late in the first half, and although UCF did close the gap somewhat, it never got back into single digits. Such a lead came to be thanks to nine consecutive missed shots by the Knights in the middle of the first half, which resulted in an over-six-minute scoring drought.

Thanks to some shooting struggles on Arizona's part in the second half, UCF was able to rally and close the gap before halftime, even closing it to 12 points with 4:48 to go. However, the Knights ended up going cold once again, only making two of their last eight shots after that.

While UCF kept the game from being a blowout, the deficit proved to be massive enough that its rally ended up stopping short of making the game too close. It's not that coach Johnny Dawkins and his players can't make comebacks, but a 27-point one is a tall task compared to a 10 or 14-point one.

2. They Need To Find Their Three Again

The Knights have shot under 20% from beyond the arc just four times this season. The first was on Nov. 29 against VMI. The other three all came in their last three games, which are also in a three-way tie for UCF's season-low for three-pointers made at a paltry three each.

Forward Jordan Burks, once the team's leader in three-pointers, has now fallen behind guard Riley Kugel after missing his last 13 shots from deep. UCF's three-point specialist off the bench, Carmelo Pacheco, has also struggled, making just one of his last 11 three-point shots in the last three games. Both players went a combined 0-8 shooting from three against Arizona, accounting for a third of the team's attempts from deep for the whole game.

Three-pointers have been a calling card for the Knights all season. Even after these recent struggles, they are still 54th in the nation and fourth in the Big 12 in three-point percentage. So, finding that shot again, even if it's just a portion of their production from earlier in the season, can go a long way to prolonging their season.

The Knights learn who their next opponent is going to be at 6 p.m. on Selection Sunday.