The 2016–17 UCF Knights men's basketball team represented the University of Central Florida during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Knights were members of the American Athletic Conference. The Knights, in the program's 48th season of basketball, were led by first-year head coach Johnny Dawkins and played their home games at the CFE Arena on the university's main campus in Orlando, Florida. They finished the season 24–12, 11–7 in AAC play to finish in fourth place. They defeated Memphis in the quarterfinals of the AAC tournament before losing in the semifinals to SMU. They were invited to the National Invitation Tournament, where they defeated Colorado, Illinois State and Illinois to advance to the semifinals at Madison Square Garden for the first time in school history, where they lost to the eventual NIT champion, TCU.
Previous season The Knights finished the season with a record of 12–18, 6–12 in AAC play to finish in seventh place in the conference. They lost in the first round of the AAC tournament to Tulane.
After the season, Donnie Jones was fired as UCF's head coach. On March 24, 2016, the school hired Johnny Dawkins as head coach.
Departures Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Reason for departure Brandan Boyle 00 G 6'1" 190 Freshman Rahway, NJ Transferred to ASA College Daiquan Walker 4 G 6'2" 185 Senior Philadelphia, PA Graduated Adonys Henriquez 10 G 6'6" 210 Sophomore Orlando, FL Transferred to Saint Louis Shaheed Davis 33 F 6'9" 210 Senior Warren, OH Graduated Justin McBride 34 C 6'10" 325 Junior Starke, FL Transferred to Valdosta State Stephon Blair 52 F 6'9" 255 Senior Fort Lauderdale, FL Graduated
Incoming transfers Name Number Pos. Height Weight Year Hometown Previous school Terrell Allen 2 G 6'2" 180 Sophomore Upper Marlboro, MD Transferred from Drexel. Under NCAA transfer rules, Allen had to sit out for the 2016–17 season. Had three years of remaining eligibility. Dayon Griffin 10 G 6'5" 188 Junior St. Petersburg, FL Transferred from Louisiana Tech. Under NCAA transfer rules, Griffin had to sit out for the 2016–17 season. Had two years of remaining eligibility. Rokas Ulvydas 11 F 6'11" 240 Junior Kaunas, Lithuania Transferred from Texas Tech. Under NCAA transfer rules, Ulvydas had to sit out for the 2016–17 season. Had two years of remaining eligibility. Nick Banyard 14 F 6'8" 225 RS senior Flower Mound, TX Transferred from Illinois State. Was eligible to play immediately, since he graduated from Illinois State. Aubrey Dawkins 15 G/F 6'6" 205 Junior Palo Alto, CA Transferred from Michigan. Under NCAA transfer rules, Dawkins had to sit out for the 2016–17 season. Had two years of remaining eligibility.
Incoming recruits
Recruiting class of 2017
Roster
Schedule and results
!colspan=9 style=| Non-conference regular season
!colspan=6 style= |AAC regular season
!colspan=9 style=| American Athletic Conference tournament
!colspan=9 style=| NIT
References