Central Florida has landed 6-foot-4 guard Shawn Smith, who is expected to be one of the top prospects in the class of 2012.

"The rankings don’t really matter to me," said Smith, who one analyst believes will be in the Top 50 of his class.

Smith said he's more of a shooting guard, but that coach Donnie Jones told him he'd get the opportunity to play both backcourt spots at UCF.

He had offers from Florida, Florida State, West Virginia, Ole Miss, South Carolina and Cincinnati.

"It's about Coach Jones," Smith said of why he chose Central Florida. "He really stood out. Even though their were bigger names, he has a plan."

Smith has been described as a "Program changer."

Central Florida has fallen to 1-4 in Conference USA with their fourth straight conference loss.

UCF lost to Rice on Sunday 58-50 despite holding a lead in the second half.

Marcus Jordan, looking to make a name for himself somewhere, felt as though UCF was the best fit.

He didn't simply want to be known as the son of Michael Jordan.

"It was the first and last visit I made," Jordan said. "I just loved it. The facilities were new and it was definitely a place where I could go in and play right away. I think that was the biggest thing. Me and (UCF teammate) A.J. (Rompza) sat down and said we can start something new and create our own little legacy here.

"I just wanted to come in a make an impact right away and throughout my four years leave something that UCF had never seen before."

Jordan hasn't only led the Knights to a Division I-best 14-0 start this season, but the sophomore is the face of a program in fast transition under first-year coach Donnie Jones.

Southern Mississippi beat No. 23 Central Florida 86-69 on Saturday, handing the nation's No. 23 ranked team their second straight loss.

UCF, 14-2, started the season on a 14-game winning streak.

Houston started hot and held on to hand No. 18 UCF their first loss of the season on Saturday night.

The Cougars jumped out to a 36-21 lead in the first half and held on for a 76-71 victory.

"We've got a dream here that we want to fill this place up," first-year coach James Dickey said of Hofheinz Pavilion. "But in order to do that, you've got to win big games."

It was Houston's first win over a ranked opponent since 2005.