Dawkins guides Knights through March Madness seeding turmoil. Can they secure a bid with crucial road wins against Utah and No. 23 BYU?
Prior to the Knights' three-game skid, they were firmly in the March Madness picture - projected as a seven, eight or nine seed on most prediction models.
However, due to their struggles, UCF (18-7, 7-6 Big 12) was in jeopardy of becoming a bubble team. Thankfully, the Knights bounced back with a strong performance against TCU, who was one of the last four teams in, according to ESPN's Joe Lunardi.
Now, UCF prepares for its final roadtrip of the season, going out west to take on Utah and No. 23 BYU.
Following the 82-71 victory over TCU, Dawkins told media how his team is handling the mounting postseason pressure.
"Well, what we want to do is we want to continue to take it one game at a time. You know, I won't look past our next opponent, and I don't want my players looking past our next opponent. Just that's all that we can control. It's our preparation for what we're going to play next and then we move forward from there. And hopefully we'll take the lessons tonight," Dawkins said. "Like I said last game, we got to take the lessons that we'll learn, try to apply them going forward, try to make the improvements necessary as we play our next opponent. So whether we play well or play poorly, there are going to be lessons to be learned that we have to gather the information, teach, and then go in the game, and hopefully we're making improvements in those areas."
The Knights' trip begins in Salt Lake City, UT, as UCF takes on a struggling Utah (10-16, 2-11 Big 12) team. The Utes rank dead last in the Big 12, winning just two conference games this season, but are coming off of a big road victory against West Virginia this past Wednesday.
UCF will remain in the Beehive State to take on the No. 23 BYU Cougars. The Cougars are led by phenom freshman AJ Dybantsa, who is a no-doubt top-three pick in the upcoming 2026 NBA Draft.
Dybantsa is currently leading the country in scoring with 24.8 points per game while shooting over 53% from the field. In BYU's last time out, Dybantsa exploded for 35 of his team's 68 points in a 75-68 loss to No. 4 Arizona.
This road trip has big implications for UCF's postseason chances. The Knights will need to be locked in on finishing strong away from home, as they are just 2-6 this season away from Addition Financial Arena.