After a seven-year absence, the UCF men’s basketball team is returning to the NCAA  Tournament.

The Knights earned an at-large bid to the 68-team field on Sunday and will be headed to the East Region. It’s their sixth overall appearance in the NCAA Tournament, but the first since the 2018-19 season.

Tenth-seeded UCF (21-11, 9-9 Big 12) will face seventh-seeded UCLA (23-11, 13-7 Big Ten) in the first-round matchup at the Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia on Friday (7:25 p.m., TBS). The winner will face either second-seeded UConn or No. 15 seed Furman in the second round on Sunday.

“You’re always excited to hear your name called,” UCF coach Johnny Dawkins said. “It’s such an honor to be invited to this tournament. It’s the best tournament in sport, in my opinion, so having this opportunity is great.

“We’ve worked so hard, JB [Jordan Burks] and I personally, we’ve been here since May of last year, just working, just grinding and hoping we get the opportunity to prove what type of team, what type of players we are to the world and this is the biggest stage it is,” added point guard Themus Fulks, who previously played in the NCAA Tournament while at Louisiana during the 2022-23 season.

To compete in the NCAA Tournament is nothing short of miraculous, given where this team started back in the fall.

UCF returned zero production from last season and signed 13 newcomers, many of whom arrived via the transfer portal. The team was picked to finish 14th out of 16 teams in the Big 12, according to the preseason coaches’ poll.

“I’ve said it all season long, how proud I am of this team. I saw something this summer, just how competitive they were, and I carried it over throughout the season. So that made it really special, and to see our young people have these dreams that are made,” Dawkins said. “When you’re a young player, you dream of having an opportunity to play in the NCAA Tournament. So, to see a number of these players who’ve never had this opportunity, it’s their first time and some of the guys who’ve had multiple opportunities, it never gets old, with such a special feeling.”

Fulks isn’t the only player with previous experience in the Big Dance.

Guard Riley Kugel made it to the NCAA Tournament while at Florida (2022-24) and Mississippi State (2024-25). Forward Devan Cambridge also played in the tournament while at Arizona State (2022-23), as did Burks, who didn’t see any action during Kentucky’s run in the 2023-24 season.

There was plenty of nervousness surrounding Knight Nation over the past few weeks.

After a dominating 97-84 win at then-No. 19 BYU on Feb. 24, UCF ended the season on a three-game losing streak. The Knights dropped a pair of home games to Baylor and Oklahoma State before being routed on the road at West Virginia.

Despite its season-ending struggles, UCF earned a first-round bye in the Big 12 Tournament. The Knights outlasted Cincinnati, 66-65 in overtime in their second-round matchup before being thumped by top-seeded Arizona in the quarterfinals, 81-59.

To their credit, the Knights had a strong resume featuring five Quad 1 wins over Texas A&M, Kansas, Texas Tech, BYU and TCU.

UCF is 1-5 overall in NCAA Tournament games, with its last victory coming against VCU in the first round of the 2018-19 tourney.

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.