LAWRENCE, KS. — The UCF men’s basketball team set out to do something on Tuesday night that hadn’t happened in over 30 years. The Knights were looking to hand No. 11 Kansas (15-5, 6-3 Big 12) back-to-back losses in Allen Fieldhouse for the first time since the 1988-89 season. In their debut at the historic venue, the Black and Gold pressed the Jayhawks for all 40 minutes, leading for more than half the contest, but ultimately falling, 91-87.
“I thought we gave a winning effort,” said UCF Head Coach Johnny Dawkins. “It was a great environment. Our team is here for the first time experiencing it, and I thought they came ready to compete. It ended up being a great basketball game, unfortunately, we came out on the short end.”
The energy of Allen Fieldhouse seemed to possess the basketball in the first six minutes of action, as both sides found shot after shot end in swishes. Kansas started 8-for-12 from the field to take a 21-18 lead at the first media timeout, as UCF hung tough with the four-time national champions, going 7-for-12 early. Darius Johnson and Keyshawn Hall were sharp early, each hitting a pair of threes in the game’s opening moments.
Johnson made a free throw to pull UCF within two before nailing his third three-pointer of the game, this time off a Benny Williams steal and assist from Jordan Ivy-Curry to take a 22-21 lead. The Knights played with the lead for the next few minutes, going up four twice during the run, with the three-point tally now at seven, tying the most in a first half this season halfway through the opening frame.
The media timeout at 6:30 remaining in the first half saw UCF down 32-30 with the Jayhawks shooting 61.1% to the Knights’ 37% at the time. However, the Knights had forced seven turnovers, including two from Johnson, placing him alone in second place on UCF’s all-time steals list. He finished the night with four steals, giving him 208 in his career, now behind only Jerry Prather, who is UCF’s all-time leader with 290 steals. Johnson later reached another milestone, hitting the 400-assist mark and jumped to third all-time on UCF’s career list.
Johnson, who already had 13 points at this point on Tuesday, saw Hall tie things at 32 with an assist from Ivy-Curry before Ivy-Curry earned two fastbreak points to give the Knights the narrow lead. The Black and Gold surrendered the lead just once down the stretch of the first half, taking a 43-41 lead into the locker room.
UCF led for almost the first 12 minutes of the second half, building its biggest lead of the game at 56-47 with 16:50 left in the game.
The teams traded runs for the next four minutes, but then a Kansas 7-0 run gave the hosts a 71-67 lead with 7:32 to play. The Knights would tie the game three more times until the Jayhawks used another spurt to take an 84-79 lead with 2:56 to play.
UCF refused to wilt and Moustapha Thiam hit a deep jumper before Hall drove the paint and scored on and converted on an and-one, tying things at 84 with 1:55 to play.
Three of four makes from the charity stripe by the Jayhawks’ Hunter Dickinson gave Kansas the three point edge with 55 ticks remaining. Johnson responded a the other end with grit in the paint, missing two tough shots at the rim but cashing in on the third, putting UCF behind by one with 36 seconds left.
The Knights got the stop they needed and with 10-seconds left, Hall crashed through the paint toward the rim, drawing contact but not a foul as the ball went bounding away. Kansas corralled the ball and UCF was forced to foul, which added two points at the other end after free throws. With four ticks left, Johnson took the ball up court and looked as if he was attempting to pull up for a deep, game-tying three pointer. Contact was made with Johnson’s arms, but it was determined after review that the foul didn’t occur in the act of shooting. With UCF in the double bonus, Johnson went to the line for two free throws instead of getting another shot at three from the floor. The first one didn’t go, but the second did. Another foul in an attempt to get the ball back ended with two more makes and a four point and final advantage for Kansas 91-87.
“Our guys kept fighting through, we didn’t want to make any excuses,” said Dawkins. “We wanted to come in and keep battling, we knew it would be a challenge. Our guys were very competitive, we just didn’t make the plays we had to make. We have to make those plays through contact.”
UCF hit a season-high 14 three-pointers as Hall ended the night with 34 points while adding seven rebounds and three assists. Darius Johnson (19 points, 5 assists, 4 steals), Thiam (17 points, 5 rebounds) and Ivy-Curry (10 points, 7 rebounds, 8 assists, blocked shot) also finished in double figures.
Up Next:
The Knights will return to Addition Financial Arena today (Saturday) to host BYU at 4 p.m. in he nightcap of a women/men doubleheader. The UCF women host Houston at noon. Both games will be streamed on ESPN+.
Follow the Knights:
Follow UCF men’s basketball on X (@UCF_MBB), Instagram (@UCF.MBB) and Facebook (/UCFMensBasketball).
Here is the box score:
Kansas 91, UCF 87
UCF (13-7, 4-5)
Keyshawn Hall 9-19 11-11 34, Darius Johnson 6-15 2-4 19, Moustapha Thiam 8-17 0-0 17, Jordan Ivy-Curry 4-10 0-0 10, Dallan "Deebo" Coleman 1-7 2-2 5, Mikey Williams 1-3 0-0 2, Benny Williams 0-2 0-0 0, Dior Johnson 0-1 0-0 0, Rokas Jocius 0-1 0-0 0, Nils Machowski 0-0 0-0 0. Totals _ 29-75 15-17 87.
#11 Kansas (15-5, 6-3)
Hunter Dickinson 7-17 10-12 24, Zeke Mayo 8-20 2-2 24, Flory Bidunga 4-5 2-2 10, Rylan Griffen 2-5 0-0 4, Shakeel Moore 0-0 0-0 0, KJ Adams 3-6 6-7 12, David Coit 4-8 0-0 12, AJ Storr 0-3 5-6 5, Rakease Passmore 0-0 0-0 0. Totals _ 28-64 25-29 91.
Halftime _ UCF 43, Kansas 41. 3-point field goals _ UCF 14-36 (Da. Johnson 5-8, Hall 5-7, Ivy-Curry 2-5, Coleman 1-7, Thiam 1-5, M. Williams 0-2, B. Williams 0-1, Di. Johnson 0-1); Kansas 10-21 (Mayo 6-10, Coit 4-8, Griffen 0-2, Store 0-1). Team fouls _ UCF 20; Arizona 16. Fouled out _ none. Technical fouls _ none. Rebounds _ UCF 36 (Coleman, Ivy-Curry, Hall 7 each, Thiam 5); Kansas 48 (Bidunga 11, Mayo 9, Dickinson 7, Adams 5). Turnovers _ UCF 7; Kansas 12. Assists _ UCF 20 (Ivy-Curry 8, Da. Johnson 5, Coleman, Hall 3 each); Kansas 14 (Mayo 5). Steals _ UCF 11 (Da. Johnson 4, M. Williams 2); Kansas 6 (Bidunga 2). Blocked shots _ UCF 1 (Ivy-Curry); Kansas 7 (Bidunga 5, Dickinson 2).
