The 2025–26 UCF Knights men's basketball team represented the University of Central Florida during the 2025–26 NCAA Division I men's basketball season, marking their third season as members of the Big 12 Conference. The Knights, in the program's 57th season of basketball, were led by tenth-year head coach Johnny Dawkins and played their home games at the Addition Financial Arena.

Previous season The Knights finished the 2024–25 season 20–17, 7–13 in Big 12 Play to finish in a tie for 13th place. They defeated Utah in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament, 87−72. They lost in overtime of the second round to Kansas, 98–94.

The Knights were invited to play in the inaugural College Basketball Crown, a single-elimination, fully-bracketed men's college basketball postseason tournament featuring sixteen National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I teams not selected to participate in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.

In their first round game, they defeated Oregon State, 76–75. They defeated fellow Big 12 Conference opponent Cincinnati in their quarterfinals game, 88–80, to reach the semifinals. In their semifinal matchup, the Knights defeated Villanova, 104–98 in overtime. In the championship game, they lost 77−66 to Nebraska.

Preseason The Big 12 preseason coaches poll was released on October 16, 2025. All awards were voted on by the league's 16 head coaches, who could not vote for their own team or players. The Big 12 preseason media poll was released on October 30, 2025.

Big 12 Preseason Coaches Poll Big 12 coachesPoints 1.Houston224 (12) 2.BYU204 (1) 3.Texas Tech200 4.Arizona179 (1) 5.Iowa State170 6.Kansas163 7.Baylor137 8.Cincinnati120 9.Kansas State117 10.TCU90 11.West Virginia79 12.Oklahoma State77 13.Utah50 14.UCF39 15.Colorado37 16.Arizona State34Reference: (#) first-place votes

Big 12 Preseason Media Poll Big 12 media 1.Houston 2.Texas Tech 3.BYU 4.Arizona 5.Iowa State 6.Kansas 7.Baylor 8.Kansas State 9.Cincinnati 10.TCU 11.West Virginia 12.Oklahoma State 13.Utah 14.UCF 15.Colorado 16.Arizona StateReference:

Roster

Schedule and results

!colspan=12 style=""| Exhibition

!colspan=12 style=""| Non-conference regular season

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Rankings

*AP did not release a week 8 poll.

References