ORLANDO — The UCF men’s basketball team was topped by Cincinnati 93-83 on Wednesday night from Addition Financial Arena, dropping its third straight contest.
“Very disappointing,” said UCF Head Coach Johnny Dawkins. “The fact is that we’ve got to be better, and we’re capable of it. It’s a long season, and this has been a tough stretch for us right now, and we have to find a way to fight out of it. That’s the bottom line. There’s no magic pill you can take, you have to fight your way out of it. Everything we want is still in front of us that we can play for. Our biggest thing is we have to learn to fight out of these situations quicker.”
The Knights got on the board first with a Moustapha Thiam slam and led by six, 14-8, just over five minutes into the contest.
Between the under 12 and under eight-minute timeouts, the Bearcats put together a 9-5 run, taking the lead at 16-15 and running it up to a 19-15 edge before UCF scored again. It wound up being the lone time on the night that the lead changed hands. Jordan Ivy-Curry brought it back to a one-point game with a three, putting an end to Cincinnati’s 11-1 run with the Black and Gold still very much in the contest.
The Knights evened the scoring at 36-36 with 58 seconds left in the half thanks to a tough Johnson layup. Cincinnati added two more buckets, including a wild tip in at the buzzer to take a 40-36 advantage into the locker room.
The Bearcats banged home a three-pointer to start the second half. The Knights answered with four points in the paint, but Cincinnati responded and went on a 7-2 run to take a 50-42 lead.
The two sides essentially traded runs the rest of the game, as Cincinnati slowly edged their way to a 10-point lead at 70-60 with 8:16 to go. The Knights cut that deficit in half with 5:26 to go after a trio of free throws and a layup made it 76-71, but that was the closest the Black and Gold got to catching the Bearcats. UCF was unable to make stops when they needed them most, allowing 53 points in the second half.
Cincinnati shot 58.5% on the night, the highest clip from the field allowed during the Dawkins era. The Bearcats shot making ability, along with the 56 points in the paint, told the story. The paint points were the second-most allowed this season. UCF had the edge in offensive rebounding by 10 at a 17-7 edge but only led Cincinnati in second chance points 16-13.
Keyshawn Hall posted his fourth straight game with 20 or more points, posting 23. Darius Johnson joined Hall in the 20+ category on the evening with 21. Also finishing double figures were Moustapha (14) and Ivy-Curry (11).
Up Next:
The Knights will look to snap their skid in a new location as their head to Waco, Texas, to face Baylor today (Saturday) to take on Baylor at 2 p.m. before returning home to host powerful Iowa State next Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Addition Financial Arena. Both games will be streamed on ESPN+.
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Follow UCF men’s basketball on X (@UCF_MBB), Instagram (@UCF.MBB) and Facebook (/UCFMensBasketball).
Here is the box score:
Cincinnati 93, UCF 83
Cincinnati (13-9, 3-8)
Day Day Thomas 9-15 1-2 20, Dillon Mitchell 9-14 1-2 19, Aziz Bandaogo 7-8 2-4 16, Jizzle James 5-7 5-7 15, Simas Lukosius 2-7 2-3 7, Dan Skillings Jr. 3-5 1-1 8, Tyler Betsey 3-5 0-0 8, CJ Fredrick 0-0 0-0 0, Josh Reed 0-3 0-0 0, Arrinten Page 0-0 0-0 0, Rayvon Griffith 0-1 0-0 0. Totals _ 38-65 12-19 93.
UCF (13-9, 4-7)
Keyshawn Hall 8-18 6-8 23, Darius Johnson 8-15 3-4 21, Moustapha Thiam 6-13 2-2 14, Jordan Ivy-Curry 4-7 1-2 11, Dallan "Deebo" Coleman 1-2 0-0 2, Benny Williams 3-3 0-0 6, Dior Johnson 2-5 2-2 6, Rokas Jocius 0-0 0-0 0, JJ Taylor 0-1 0-0 0, Nils Machowski 0-1 0-0 0, Mikey Williams 0-2 0-0 0. Totals _ 32-67 14-18 83.
Halftime _ Cincinnati 40; UCF 36. 3-point field goals _ Cincinnati 5-16 (Betsey 2-4, Lukosius 1-6, Thomas 1-2, Skillings 1-1, Mitchell 0-1, James 0-1, Reed 0-1); UCF 5-22 (Da. Johnson 2-6, Ivy-Curry 2-4, Hall 1-3, Thiam 0-3, Di. Johnson 0-2, Machowski 0-1, Coleman 0-1, Taylor 0-1, M. Williams 0-1). Team fouls _ Cincinnati 18; UCF 18. Fouled out _ none. Technical fouls _ none. Rebounds _ Cincinnati 27 (Mitchell, Nandaogo 6 each); UCF 39 (Thiam 8, Hall 7, Coleman 6, Da. Johnson 5). Turnovers _ Cincinnati 10; UCF 16. Assists _ Cincinnati 18 (Thomas 6, James 4); UCF 13 (Da. Johnson 6, Hall 3, Thiam 2). Steals _ Cincinnati 9 (Bandaogo, James, Lukosius 2 each); UCF 3 (Coleman 2). Blocked shots _ Cincinnati 4 (Thomas, Mitchell, Bandaogo, Reed); UCF 4 (Thiam, Hall, B. Williams, Taylor).
