The only thing left to do is wait.

If UCF aimed to send a message to the NCAA Tournament selection committee about deserving a place in the 68-team field, Thursday’s quarterfinal game in the Big 12 Tournament certainly didn’t accomplish that.

The Knights suffered a disappointing loss to No. 2 Arizona, falling 81-59 at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Mo.

UCF (21-11, 9-9 Big 12) was looking to advance to the semifinals of the Big 12 Tournament for the first time in program history. Instead, the Knights must wait for Selection Sunday to find out if they’ve earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 2018-19 season.

Arizona (30-2, 16-2 Big 12) moves on to face Iowa State in the semifinals on Friday (7 p.m., ESPN2).

Themus Fulks led the Knights with 14 points, while Jordan Burks added 10.

“We played against a very good basketball team today in Arizona,” said UCF coach Johnny Dawkins. “They do a great job of just controlling the tempo, playing their style of basketball and sometimes you can get lost in that. For us, we need to stick to what we did well. I thought they did a good job of disrupting us and not allowing us to do that.”

The loss leaves UCF’s postseason future in limbo as the Knights must wait to see if their resume is good enough to qualify for the 68-team field. The argument for a spot is based on the five Quad 1 wins, including victories over Texas A&M, Kansas, Texas Tech, TCU and BYU.

UCF struggled with shooting in its second-round matchup against Cincinnati on Wednesday and it carried over to Thursday’s game.

The Knights shot 36% (22 of 61) from the floor, including an abysmal 14% (3 of 21) from 3-point range. In the past two games, the team shot 13% (6 of 45) from beyond the arc.

UCF missed eight of its first nine shot attempts and connected on just 14% (3 of 21) midway through the first half.

Arizona freshman guard Brayden Burries quickly made his mark by scoring seven of the Wildcats’ first 12 points, leading the team to a strong 12-2 start before the initial media timeout.

Burries is among a trio of Arizona players projected to be selected in the first round of the 2026 NBA Draft, along with Koa Peat and Motiejus Krivas.

The Wildcats, meanwhile, shot an impressive 65% (13 of 20) through the first 14 minutes, building a 27-point advantage.

However, UCF would chip away at the lead, going on a 20-11 run in the final 6:29 of the half to pull within 46-30 at the half.

Riley Kugel scored the first 6 points of the second half for the Knights before picking up his fourth foul with 15:50 left in the game.

After Arizona pushed the lead back to 20, UCF went on a 9-1 run over a four-minute stretch to pull within 12 at 54-42 with 11:49 left in the game. It was the closest the Knights had gotten since trailing 20-8 early in the first half.

That would be as close as UCF would get, as the Wildcats would go on a 10-0 run late to put the game away.

Burries finished with a game-high 21 points, while Peat and Tobe Awaka had 12 apiece and Ivan Kharchenkov had 10.

Health has to be a major concern for the Knights heading into the NCAA Tournament after center John Bol left the game after colliding with Arizona’s Awaka under the basket with 11:09 left in the game. Bol spent several minutes on the ground before being slowly helped to the locker room by the training staff. He did not return.

“He is doing okay. I would think he would be listed day-to-day as of right now, but he’s up,” said Dawkins. “He was moving and came back out. So I will see. They’re still making sure that everything is okay, but he seemed to be doing okay.”

Bol wasn’t the only UCF player hobbled.

Center Jeremy Foumena missed several games with a lower leg injury, while Stillwell and Kugel have also been dealing with their own bumps and bruises.

Please find me on X, Bluesky or Instagram @osmattmurschel. Email: mmurschel@orlandosentinel.com. Sign up for the Sentinel’s Knights Weekly newsletter for a roundup of all our UCF coverage.