Andrej Jakimovski already has experienced all the ups and downs inherent with major college basketball. He also has been a classic streak shooter, so playing his way out of a rut is nothing new.

Jakimovski, along with the CU men’s basketball team as a whole, will look to do just that during a Wednesday night road challenge at Central Florida (5 p.m., ESPN+).

Jakimovski returned to the starting lineup for Saturday’s dismal 81-61 defeat at Arizona State after missing the Big 12 opener against No. 3 Iowa State due to an illness.

While Jakimovski made it clear he was offering no excuses for an effort at ASU that saw the graduate transfer continue a recent shooting slump, he also admitted he probably was less than 100% after fighting a stomach bug. Between the illness and CU’s holiday break, Jakimovski had not played a game in two weeks before suiting up at ASU.

“It started (Monday) at practice. Some guys told me it was the toughest practice for them all year. And we have to get better,” Jakimovski said. “We played a really bad game at ASU. It’s a bad loss. But we know that we can bounce back. We can do that just by defending and rebounding. All four losses this year, we were outrebounded. I think that’s a huge deal for us now.”

Since going 4-for-7 on 3-pointers during a win against Pacific on Dec. 2, a performance that nudged Jakimovski’s 3-point percentage to nearly 40%, he has gone just 2-for-21 from the arc over his past four games. That includes a 1-for-6 performance during the loss at ASU.

“Just take a couple good ones. I thought against ASU I had a couple bad threes,” Jakimovski said. “I kind of hurried a couple shots. Once I focus on the feet and the follow-through, it’s going to go in. It’s a shooting slump, but I’m keeping the same things that I was doing when I was making shots. It’s nothing different. I’m just trying to stay steady and don’t overreact to missing shots.”

Early flight

The Buffs (9-4, 0-2 Big 12) took advantage of classes still being on the semester break by leaving for Orlando following Monday’s practice, one day earlier than what is typical for road trips. It is a luxury the Buffs may not have been able to enjoy if classes were in session, and the move allowed CU a little more adjustment time while traveling east two time zones to play a single game.

“We’d normally leave on Tuesday to play on Wednesday,” CU head coach Tad Boyle said. “We’re not in school, so obviously we were able to do that.”

Notable

Monday was Boyle’s 62nd birthday. … The Buffs played at UCF just once previously, with the Derrick White-led team losing a first-round game in the NIT in Orlando on March 15, 2017.

The teams have met one other time, with CU winning at home on Jan. 3, 2007. … On Monday, West Virginia’s Javon Small was named the Big 12 player of the week, while Iowa State’s Joshua Jefferson and TCU’s Noah Reynolds shared the newcomer of the week honor. … CU began the week ranked 85th in the NET and 87th at KenPom.com. In the NET, CU is 1-4 in Quad 1 games and a combined 8-0 in Quad 3 and Quad 4 games.