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
AAC Tournament
2017 American Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
2016–17 UCF Knights men's basketball team