ORLANDO, Fla. (FNN SPORTS) – UCF has extended its naming rights partnership with Addition Financial Credit Union for an additional dozen years—in the process continuing to identify Addition Financial Arena on the UCF campus as the Knights’ home for men’s and women’s basketball games and a variety of other events.

The new agreement is a 12-year, $20 million partnership that follows up the original naming rights pact signed by UCF and Additional Financial in 2013. The new deal takes effect Jan. 1, 2023.

The UCF Board of Trustees approved the name at its meeting this morning, and the full deal is expected to be approved Aug. 25 by the UCF Athletics Association.

“We’ve had a partnership with Addition Financial for nearly a decade, and we’re excited that Kevin Miller and the Addition Financial Board have agreed to extend our relationship for an additional 12 years,” says UCF vice president and athletics director Terry Mohajir. “This is a great new venture with outstanding community partners.

“Resources will be paramount as we transition into the Big 12 Conference a year from now, and Addition Financial will play a key role for us as we invest more resources to enhance our education and athletics missions!”

In 2013, Addition Financial was named the Official Financial Institution of the UCF Knights and is the exclusive credit union for UCF Athletics. Since that time, Addition Financial has partnered with UCF Athletics to provide scholarships, financial education workshops and other sponsorship support. Addition Financial is also the home of the official UCF Knights debit cards, with designs featuring the new Knight head and the Citronaut.

“Addition Financial is proud to continue our longstanding partnership with UCF Athletics and to align with Orlando’s hometown teams. Knight Nation has truly inspired us along their journey to the Big 12, and we look forward to embarking on that journey alongside them as we extend our partnership,” said Kevin Miller, Addition Financial president and CEO.

The 10,000-seat Addition Financial Arena has been home to the UCF men’s and women’s basketball programs since the start of their 2007-08 seasons. Located in the heart of Knights Plaza on the north side of campus, the state-of-the-art facility opened in the fall of 2007 and also hosts premiere concerts along with UCF commencement ceremonies.

ORLANDO, Fla. (FNN SPORTS) – The UCF Knights (5-4) hosted the Quinnipiac Bobcats (1-6) at Addition Financial Arena Tuesday night in just their third overall meeting; with both teams splitting the match-ups with one win each in previous years’ match-ups. The last game between the two schools was December 29, 2005 in Orlando, which the Bobcats won 71-55. This time, however, the outcome favored the Knights.

The first half of the game was competitive with the score tied on four occasions and seven lead changes. UCF Knights entered halftime with a 40-29 lead over the Bobcats. Leading the Knights in scoring was Kay Kay Wright with 10 points; and for the Bobcats, Shaq Edwards with 12 points.

The Knights started the third period on a mission with a 10-2 run, increasing their lead to 18 points. With a mixture of defenses and using their length inside, the Knights controlled the second half with offense rebounding, winning the battle of points in the paint (50-10) and forcing 22 turnovers from the Bobcats that resulted in 21 points for the Knights. In the end, the Knights won the contest 80-58. Leading all scorers was Shaq Edwards of Quinnipiac and Brittney Smith of UCF with 18 points apiece.

Next up, UCF Women’s Basketball host St. Mary’s (4-5) Friday, December 20, 2019 at 2:30pm.

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Jelisa Caldwell is a Florida National News sports contributor. | info@floridanationalnews.com

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (FNN SPORTS) – The 2017 AdvoCare Tournament wrapped up three exciting days of college basketball on Sunday at ESPN Wide World of Sports with the West Virginia Mountaineers winning three games in four days to take home the championship. After three stellar games, Jevon Carter was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. He averaged 21.7 points per game during his three-game performance.

The Mountaineers overcame a 16-point second half defect to win the championship. Carter and Dexter Miles Jr. combined for the final nine points in the last 38 seconds to complete the comeback. Missouri’s Jordan Barnett had 21 points to lead Missouri on Sunday night.

The tournament featured eight major college basketball programs from all across the country, including the hometown University of Central Florida Knights. With NBA scouts and general managers from 11 teams in attendance, the teams gave it their all over the Thanksgiving weekend.

The hometown Knights finished in 4th place. They won their opening game on Thursday against Nebraska by score of 68-59, when they held the Cornhuskers to 34% shooting in the game. Redshirt freshman guard Ceasar DeJesus scored 15 points and junior center Tacko Fall scored 11 points and grabbed eight rebounds.

On Friday, the Knights cold start shooting early put them in a deficit that they could not come back from as they lost to West Virginia by the score of 83-45. UCF opened up the game by missing 17 of their first 21 shots and the Mountaineers went on a 21-1 run to blow the game wide open. Fall led UCF with 11 points.

In their final game of the weekend, both the Knights and the St. Johns Red Storm struggled to shoot the ball. Both teams combined to miss 12 of their final 13 shots, but the Red Storm made enough defensive plays down the stretch to take home 3rd place by the score of 46-43. The Knights had two chances to tie the game at the end of regulation, but both Dayon Griffin and Ceasar DeJesus missed 3-pointers.

The 2018 edition of the tournament will be headlined by Villanova. Currently the Wildcats are a Top 5 team and are the 2017 Men’s Basketball National Champions. Also joining the field is Florida State, Oklahoma State, the University of Alabama Birmingham, Memphis, LSU, the College of Charleston and the eighth team will be named later.

Final Standings

Champions: West Virginia

Runner Up: Missouri

3rd Place: St. Johns

4th Place: Central Florida

5th Place: Nebraska

6th Place: Long Beach State

7th Place: Oregon State

8th Place: Marist

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Danny Thomspon is a sports contributor for Florida National News. | info@floridanationalnews.com