A pair of Big 12 teams battling to stay within the top half of the conference standings square off Saturday when UCF hosts TCU in Orlando, Fla.The Knights (12-6, 3-4 Big 12) and Horned Frogs (10-8, 3-4) entered Friday in a four-way tie for eighth place with BYU and Utah. UCF aims to break a two-game skid, while TCU comes off Wednesday’s 74-61 home setback to No. 12 Kansas.Darius Johnson contributed a career-high 33 points and nine rebounds to power UCF’s 79-77 win at TCU in the 2023-24 regular-season finale. Johnson is currently UCF’s third-leading scorer at 14.4 points per game, and the senior guard needs two steals to move into second place on the program’s all-time career list.The Knights shot 45.8 percent (11 of 24) from 3-point range during Tuesday’s 108-83 loss at No. 3 Iowa State. It marked the fourth time an opponent topped 90 points this season against UCF, which is allowing 87.1 points per game in Big 12 play.”(Iowa State coach) T.J. (Otzelberger) does a great job with his group,” UCF coach Johnny Dawkins said. “He’s done a great job ever since he’s been here, and we have to keep on developing our guys and keep on getting better as we move through conference play.”TCU alternated wins and losses over its last eight games, and coach Jamie Dixon’s team had an up-and-down performance against Kansas as well.