Loss to Rice makes it four straight for the Knights

The search for answers continues as the Knights dropped their fourth consecutive game, this time to the Rice Owls.

The Knights (14-4, 1-4) could not overcome a dismal shooting night en route to a 57-50 loss. UCF shot only 30.4 percent from the field in front of the school's third-largest crowd ever, an announced crowd of 9,347.

"There comes a time you have to step up," said head coach Donnie Jones. "You shoot 30 percent from the field ... I can't say we didn't have good shots. It makes it difficult. We played well enough defensively to win the game."

The Owls (9-10, 1-4) didn't do too much better from the field, shooting 34.7 percent, but the struggling Owls came off four consecutive losses of their own and did just enough to win.

UCF went into the half with a slim lead, up 27-25, but came out of the second half flat. The Knights failed to score a field goal for more than ten minutes, starting with two minutes remaining in the first half and going all the way down to around the 12 minute mark.

Meanwhile, the Owls rattled off a 15-1 run, putting themselves ahead 40-28 midway through the second half.  It was another run, representing a disturbing trend for the Knights during this losing streak.

"Our guys got to find a way to overcome adversity," Jones said.

Keith Clanton, who led the Knights with 18 points, came alive along with Marcus Jordan and helped bring the Knights all the way back, going on a 15-3 run of their own, to tie the game at 43-43 with 5:26 to go.

The second-half surge from Clanton was helpful and almost put UCF over the top, but Jones said it was something that should have been happening all night.

"We need Keith to start the game off like that instead of waiting until the end," Jones said. "I was proud of the way he came back. I was on him very hard at the beginning of the game because we need him. He needs to take that next step for our team and he responded."

The stout UCF defense, which had brought them back into the game, struggled once again—as did the Knights offensive momentum. The Owls went on to outscore the Knights 14-7 the rest of the way.

Rice was led by Connor Frizzelle and his 15 points. Two other Rice players had double digit efforts, Arsalan Kazemi with 11 and Tamir Jackson with 10.

Marcus Jordan had 10 points for the Knights, although all of those came from the free throw line and Jordan went 0 for 5 from the field.

Jordan was injured earlier in the season and may still be feeling some of the effects.

"He's very heavy-legged for some reason right now," Jones said. "Emotionally, physically, mentally. He's got to get himself back here right now."

After the game, Jones hinted at possible changes in the line-up for the Knights.

"We'll make some changes, it's time for some things to change in this line up and on this team," Jones said.

UCF will have to try to fix things on the road, as the Knights travel to Memphis to take on the C-USA powerhouse Tigers on Wednesday in a nationally-televised matchup on CBS College.