The 1977–78 FTU Knights men's basketball team was an NCAA Division II

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

team that represented Florida Technological University, now named the

University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public university, public research university with its main campus in unincorporated area, unincorporated Orange County, Florida, United States. It is part of the State University System of Florida. ...

. The Knights competed in the

Sunshine State Conference The Sunshine State Conference is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. All of its member institutions are located in the state of Florida, which is popularly k ...

(SSC), and played their home games in the university's education gymnasium on FTU's main campus in

Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...

. The team was led by head coach

Torchy Clark Eugene "Torchy" Clark (January 1, 1929 – April 22, 2009) was an American college basketball coach. He was the first head coach of the UCF Knights men's basketball team that represents the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida. The ...

who was in his ninth season with the team. In the previous year, the Knights finished the season 24–4, 8–2 in SSC play. In 1978, Clark led the Knights, which at the time were riding a 24–game winning streak, to a Sunshine State Conference regular season title, the inaugural Sunshine State Conference post-season tournament title, and the NCAA South Regional and the NCAA Quarterfinals titles, en route to the Final Four in Springfield,

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

. It was one of six tournament appearances that the Knights made between 1976 and 1982. Due to the team's impressive performance, Clark was named the Sunshine State Conference Coach of the Year. To this date, the teams 24–game winning streak and 26 total wins are still program records.

Schedule and results

, - !colspan=7, Regular season , - !colspan=7, Sunshine State Conference Tournament , - , - !colspan=7, NCAA Tournament , - , - , colspan="8" , *Non-Conference Game.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1977-78 UCF Knights Men's Basketball Team UCF Knights men's basketball seasons Ftu

UCF Knights The UCF Knights are the sport, athletic teams that represent the University of Central Florida in unincorporated Orange County, Florida near Orlando, Florida, Orlando. The Knights participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NC ...