Despite a myriad of injuries between this season and last, Johnny Dawkins’ UCF Knights were known for one strength: their defense.

While UCF’s offense hasn’t generated much buzz, its defense has been elite, ranking fifth in the nation in opposing field-goal percentage (0.390) and third in points per game allowed (60.7) this season.

That defensive success was missing in the Knights’ most recent game, a 70-61 loss at the University of Tulsa on Feb. 21 at the Donald W. Reynolds Center. The Golden Hurricane shot 53.5 percent from the field, including 36.4 percent from 3-point range and 84.2 percent (16-for-19) from the free-throw line.

“It wasn’t our best defensive effort,” Dawkins said after the loss, per UCF. “I thought we’ve played better, so I’m disappointed in how we guarded. But give [Tulsa] credit for making plays.”

Shooting guard Dayon Griffin drained a 3 to tie UCF (17-10, 8-7 in American Athletic Conference) with Tulsa at 53-53 with a little more than seven minutes to play. That’s when the Golden Hurricane went on a 10-0 run, using five minutes of the clock.

Knights guard B.J. Taylor, who scored a season-high 26 points, becoming the 19th UCF player to reach 1,000-point club, scored on four-consecutive free throws in the span of eight seconds to pull the Knights within six points with 1:39 to play.

Taylor added two more points on his final bucket, but timely free-throw shooting by Tulsa (17-10, 10-5 in AAC) effectively ended the game.

In total, Taylor shot 8-for-19 from the field, including 4-for-7 from long distance and 6-for-8 from the free-throw line. His 26 points and Griffin’s 12 were the only double-digit point totals for UCF, as the Knights shot 42.9 percent.

DaQuan Jeffries and Junior Etou each led Tulsa with 19 and 17 points, respectively. They shot a combined 10-for-18 from the field, 3-for-9 from 3-point range and 13-for-16 from the free-throw line. Etou played a team-high 34 minutes.

“We have to keep grinding,” Dawkins said. “We still have a lot to play for with another opportunity for us on the road at Temple [University].”

Who’s Next?

The Knights have just three games remaining in their regular season. First, UCF will travel to face the Owls on Sunday at 2 p.m. for its final road game of the regular season. Then, the Knights will host No. 13 Wichita State University on March 1 and the Tulane Green Wave on March 4.

For more on the Knights, as they look to close out their regular season, follow Victor Tan on Twitter at @NDR_VictorTan.

To contact Victor, you can email him at vtan@newdayreview.com.