What was a promising season for Tulsa a few games ago is now spiraling out of control. It is dangerously close to a free fall.

Horrendous starts have become the norm. It looks like the Golden Hurricane is befuddled and uninterested to start the game. Only after falling down by ridiculous margins does TU start to play with any urgency.

The result of this sloppy, tentative, uninspired basketball was a stunning 65-58 home loss to cellar dweller UCF Saturday night at the Reynolds Center.

"We've got no swag right now. We've got to get our confidence back," said TU coach Frank Haith. "You could just see it. You could feel it. We've got to find a way to get these guys believing in themselves. Right now they're shook a little bit."

Tulsa (9-8, 6-6 AAC) got down 9-0 and trailed by as many as 16 points before making a run late in the game where it had the ball with a chance to tie or take the lead with less than two minutes remaining.

But just when it looked like the Golden Hurricane would take over, it was collapse time, and Central Florida (5-9, 3-8) would put the game away for just its second win in the last 10 games.

Darien Jackson was Tulsa's best player, scoring 12 points on five of five shooting from the field and made both of his free throws, to go with three assists and one turnover.

"Darien played his butt off," Haith said. "I thought he did a good job."

Perhaps Jackson, who comes off the bench, should start the next game. It couldn't result in any worse starts for the Golden Hurricane.

But even Jackson wasn't his usual defensive dynamo self, coming away without a steal. Tulsa only had three steals, and Tulsa's porous team defense resulted in an unbelievably low nine turnovers by Central Florida.

That is significant because the Knights had averaged a whopping 24 turnovers the last three games, all losses. Also significant was UCF draining 13 of 28 three-pointers (46.4 percent).

Keyshawn Embery-Simpson finally had a decent night after struggling for most of the season. The highly-touted Arkansas transfer scored 10 points in 24 minutes of playing time.

But most importantly, TU was a plus 10 points when Embery-Simpson was in the game - the only Golden Hurricane player with major playing time who wasn't in the minus column in team points while in the game.

Embery-Simpson was part of a five-guard lineup that Tulsa went to that went on a 14-0 run that narrowed a 57-42 UCF lead with under 10 minutes left to down only one at 57-56 with just over two minutes remaining.

UCF finally broke an over eight minute scoring drought with a free throw with 2:08 remaining, and Tulsa had a shot to tie or take the lead. But Tulsa failed to score, UCF went down and hit a three, and TU was finished.

Elijah Joiner led Tulsa with 14 points. Leading scorer Brandon Rachal had a subpar game, going 3 of 13 from the field. Rachal finished with 8 points and 8 rebounds.

Louisville transfer Darius Perry led the UCF three-point barrage by hitting five of eight behind the arc and paced the Knights with 18 points. Texas A&M transfer Brandon Mahan, UCF's leading scorer, took all of his shots from three-point land, making five of nine to score 15 points.

Mahan and UCF are certainly capable, as Mahan scored 32 points in a win at current 20th-ranked Florida State on Dec. 19. That is why it is so surprising that UCF hadn't won another road game all year until defeating Tulsa.

Tulsa's next game, its third in a six-game home stand, will be Wednesday against Tulane at 4 p.m.