The Knights, in the program's 48th season of basketball, were led by first-year head coach Johnny Dawkins and played their home games at the CFE Arena on the university's main campus in Orlando, Florida.

They defeated Memphis in the quarterfinals of the AAC tournament before losing in the semifinals to SMU.

They were invited to the National Invitation Tournament where they defeated Colorado, Illinois State and Illinois to advance to the semifinals at Madison Square Garden for the first time in school history where they lost to the eventual NIT Champion, TCU.

After the season, Donnie Jones was fired as UCF's head coach.

[1] On March 24, 2016, the school hired Johnny Dawkins as head coach.