ORLANDO, Fla. -- Minus its go-to guy, Wichita State never quite got it going offensively in a 52-45 loss to UCF at Addition Financial Arena.
Walk-on Melvion Flanagan scored a team-high 11 points for WSU (7-6, 0-1 American) which was without starting point guard Craig Porter Jr. (ankle).
WSU shot 35.0% from the field but hung around with another gritty defensive effort, holding its sixth straight opponent under the 40% mark.
Jaron Pierre Jr.'s three-pointer pulled the Shockers to within a point, 46-45, at the 4:50-mark of the second half, but they came up empty on each of their last seven offensive possessions to finish the game.
The Knights (10-3, 1-0) overcame their own offensive struggles. They went the final 8:16 without a field goal, but Darius Johnson (game-high 15 points) made all six of his free throw attempts in the last two minutes to secure the victory.
UCF finished at 35.8% but won the rebounding (34-27) and turnover (15-9) battles. The Knights outscored the Shockers 17-8 off turnovers and 15-5 on fast breaks.
UCF jumped to an 18-11 lead and never trailed. The Shockers scored the last five points of the first half to pull within 26-23 and narrowed the margin to a single point on three different occasions in the second half.
NOTABLE:
A low-tempo game featured just 53 possessions. Per KenPom, that's the fewest in a WSU game since Jan. 25, 2015 when the Shockers defeated Loyola Chicago, 58-47, on 53 possessions.
With back-to-back wins, UCF narrowed the Shockers all-time series lead to 8-2. The teams meet again Feb. 8 in Wichita.
WSU logged assists on nine of its 14 baskets. Kenny Pohto led the way with a career-high three dimes.
43 points marked WSU lowest offensive output since a 76-43 loss at No. 25 Houston on Feb. 9, 2020.
UP NEXT:
WSU opens the home portion of its American Athletic Conference calendar this Saturday against East Carolina (3 p.m. CT, ESPN+). Visit goshockers.com/tickets to purchase seats.