Sunday will mark the CFE Arena farewell for three UCF seniors: Nathan Laing, Djordjije Mumin and A.J. Davis.

Prior to the 4:30 p.m. tip-off against Tulane, the trio will be honored for their contributions to the program. Beyond that, the Knights are looking for a strong finish in advance of next week's American Athletic Conference Championship at Orlando's Amway Center. Depending on the final day's results, UCF can finish anywhere from No. 5 to No. 8 in the tournament seeding.

Nathan Laing, who is the son of assistant coach Robbie Laing, enrolled at UCF in the summer of 2016 with the intention of being a graduate assistant, not a player. But with eligibility still available due to injuries during his time at Jacksonville State, Laing was called into action when UCF was hit with their own depth issues. As a junior in 2016-17, Laing appeared in every single game and started five.

"It's really been a dream come true," Laing said of his two years at UCF. "I've always wanted to play for my dad and I always wanted to play at the highest level. It's been great playing for a legend like Coach (Johnny) Dawkins. It's really been a dream come true."

Looking back on his two years, Laing offered a couple of his most memorable games.

"There's been a few," he said. "Just the first game that I played against Nicholls State. I threw an alley-oop to Tacko. That was pretty neat. The crowd went wild. Starting my first game. Last year when B.J. got hurt they moved me into the starting lineup. That was special too."

While the players were disappointed with last Thursday's overtime loss to Wichita State, Laing believes it shows they have what it takes to make a run during the conference tournament.

"It shows that we can play with the top teams in the conference when we play hard," Laing said. "It shows how hard we have to play to have a chance to win. This team is still growing and still learning. This group hasn't played that many games together. We're finally getting guys healthy and trying to figure things out. Hopefully we can click at the right time going into the conference tournament."

Djordije Mumin, who was put on scholarship this past season, has always been one to give UCF a spark with his outside shooting. He's the team's most efficient long-range shooter, making 41 percent of his three-point attempts this season.

For Mumin, Sunday will be bittersweet knowing his college career is winding down. His favorite memories will be the relationships he's forged with fellow teammates and coaches.

"I'm excited about graduating, but in another way it's kind of sad because I'm going to leave my brothers, my family," Mumin said. "This is my second family because I'm so far away from home."

A native of Montenegro, Mumin has spent the past six years in the United States - his junior and senior seasons of high school at American Heritage and the past four years at UCF. His family does their best to keep up with the games, watching what they can via online streaming even if it's in the middle of the night in Europe.

For the first time since Mumin has been at UCF, his father was in CFE Arena to watch him play on Thursday.

"He traveled like 45 hours to come and see me," Mumin said. "He was there for the Wichita State game and will be there again (vs. Tulane). I'm really excited to play in front of my dad."

Mumin, who has started in 19 games this year, says the road win at No. 24 Alabama will always be a special moment for him. He scored 11 points, including draining a trio of three-pointers to help lead the Knights to the 65-62 victory.

"It was a ranked opponent and we came in as the underdog," Mumin said. "We stayed together the whole game, fought hard and beat them. I hit a couple big shots which really boosted my confidence for the rest of my season."

He wants to take care of business against Tulane on Sunday and then make some noise in the conference tournament.

"Coach Dawkins has established a culture here that we're a 'no excuse' program, no matter what happens or the circumstances," Mumin said. "We're going to keep going. Keep pushing. The way we played against Wichita, that's how we're going to come out every single game. I strongly believe, and so does everybody else on the team, if we come out and play like that, great things are going to happen in the tournament. We have a great chance to win it."

On Senior Day, A.J. Davis can take his place among UCF's best all-time players. He needs just one more point to become the 20th player in team history to score 1,000 points in a career.

As the team's most versatile player, Davis has seemingly done it all during his time in Orlando. During his first eligible season in 2015-16 after transferring from Tennessee, Davis even played point guard, ultimately leading the Knights in both scoring and rebounding. He was the glue on last year's NIT Final Four team, making more of a name for himself on the defensive end as UCF rolled to a 24-12 record.

As a senior, Davis has been playing at a superstar level in recent weeks. He's averaging 20.2 points over the last six games, including a career-high 31-point performance against Wichita State last Thursday.

Davis can hardly believe his college career is nearing its end.

"It goes by quick," Davis said. "I was just telling somebody that I can remember the first day I got dropped off at Tennessee. I can remember my first days here. It really goes by quick. I feel like I made a lot out of it. I've had a great journey. I'm excited for it. I've got a lot of emotions. Excited and sad all at the same time."

What he'll take away from his years at UCF is knowing he'll have a lifetime of friendships.

"I've loved every different part of the journey," Davis said. "From when Donnie Jones was here to Coach Dawkins coming in, I've loved every single part... The thing I'll miss most is just the relationships and the brotherhood with all these guys. It's like a family. Coach Dawkins and the coaching staff, I know I'll always go back to them for advice. I've appreciated every single one of these guys, from the managers who rebounded for me to (trainer) Jarett (Schweim) and (strength coach) Alex (Parr)."

There's still memories to make, but Davis says one game that stands out is last year's 63-62 NIT victory at Illinois State. The Knights had trailed by 18 points, but stormed back to break what had been a 22-game home winning streak for the Redbirds.

"We went down and never panicked," Davis said. "We stuck together. To be able to come back in an environment like that was so much fun being with a group of guys like that. And doing it for another teammate, Nick (Banyard), who was going back to his old school, that was just a lot of fun."

Though he's more focused on the here and now - specifically making a run in next week's American tournament - Davis has started to think about his future once his playing days have ended.

"I feel like basketball can take you in so many different directions and places," Davis said. "I can't wait to find out where basketball is going to take me. I graduated in human communications so maybe some type of broadcasting. I like to talk... I like fashion and shoes. Maybe go into that. Maybe coaching. I have some time. I just want to see where basketball takes me."