South Florida basketball announcer: UCF tired of losing, won’t schedule Bulls
Don’t expect a renewal of the War on I-4 basketball rivalry anytime soon.
South Florida play-by-play voice Jim Lighthall says UCF is refusing to schedule men’s basketball games against the Bulls, and he believes it’s because the Knights are tired of losing.
“For the record, (South Florida) asked UCF to play home or away or at a neutral site, and UCF wanted no part of playing USF anymore in basketball,” Lighthall said Wednesday during an appearance on The Jay Recher Podcast. The discussion begins around the 48-minute mark in a video posted to Youtube.
Since UCF’s departure for the Big 12 in the 2023-24 season, the once-annual conference matchups between the in-state rivals have come to a halt. There have been no regular-season games scheduled since the split, and no plans for future meetings.
South Florida enters the 2025-26 season under new leadership. Bryan Hodgson, formerly at Arkansas State, takes over the Bulls program after last year’s sudden death of head coach Amir Abdur-Rahim.
Lighthall said Hodgson reached out to UCF about a potential scheduling agreement.
“I’ve heard it from multiple places inside the athletic department,” Lighthall said. “They offered to go there and play. They really wanted to play in the Orange Bowl Classic. The Bulls have played in Sunrise a few times, played Florida and Florida State there.
“They said, ‘Hey, why aren’t we playing? Why don’t we play in the Orange Bowl Classic? We’ll get a great crowd, neutral site.’ UCF said, ‘We’re not interested.'”
South Florida has won the last three matchups in the series, including an 83-77 victory at UCF in the first round of the 2024 NIT, ending the Knights’ season. While UCF won nine straight between 2016 and 2020, the Bulls have flipped the script in recent years, holding a 6-3 edge over the last nine meetings. Overall, South Florida leads the all-time series 28-21.
“I don’t think for UCF, they don’t want to lose to USF anymore in basketball,” Lighthall said. “What is it, three times in a row they’ve lost to USF in basketball? The last two times with Brian Gregory and then in the NIT game. They’re probably tired of getting beat.
“That’s just this guy’s opinion, then again I wear green and gold. But maybe inside their athletic department they have other reasons for it.”
Prior to the 2024 NIT meeting, UCF head coach Johnny Dawkins was asked about the possibility of scheduling South Florida.
“We’ll always consider playing USF,” Dawkins said. “They’ve been a rival. I think our community has liked the game. I’m not sure (about Big 12 scheduling), how many games we’ll be playing, and we have to be aware of those factors. We’ll always entertain it. I know during my time it’s been a great game. There’s been some amazing games against them over the years.”
UCF’s 2025-26 non-conference slate includes a home game vs. Vanderbilt, road game at Texas A&M and a neutral site meeting against Pittsburgh in Daytona Beach. The Big 12 home slate will include powerhouses such as Arizona, Baylor, Kansas and Texas Tech.
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