ORLANDO — A difficult matchup Tuesday night at Addition Financial Arena saw the UCF men’s basketball team fall to No. 10 Iowa State, with late efforts coming up short en route to the 77-65 defeat.
While defensive displays kept the squad in the game, trailing by just five in the early stage of the second half, the Cyclones (19-5 overall, 9-4 Big 12) proved to be the better team in important spells of the game. Mikey Williams and Keyshawn Hall were consistently keeping UCF (13-11, 4-9) dangerous on the offensive end, while Iowa State produced a balanced effort from a quartet in double-digits.
Apart from an eye-catching Hall stepback three to open the scoring and a pair of Moustapha Thiam free throws, it was the Cyclones getting a pair of threes from Curtis Jones and another from Milan Momcilovic that pushed the Iowa State lead to nine with just under 12 minutes to play. A Darius Johnson miss from beyond the arc would immediately be rectified out of the break, as Dallan ‘Deebo’ Coleman found the senior after securing the rebound, with Johnson leaving no doubt on his second long attempt.
Johnson dished a nice pass to Tyler Hendricks, whose emphatic dunk cut the Cyclones' lead to four at 18-14 just as the contest passed the 10-minute mark. Johnson emphasized an eight-point swing from UCF with his second three of the game shortly after.
An 3-minute-plus Iowa State scoring drought resulted in the Black and Gold securing their first lead since the opening minute on a Jordan Ivy-Curry jumpshot. Newcomers Dior Johnson and Williams highlighted the 16-4 run as the squad built a three-point lead at 25-22.
The Cyclones would level the bout at 25-all prior to the last media timeout. Following a tough finish at the rim from Darius Johnson, Iowa State fired off a 7-0 run to take at five-point lead. An ‘and-one’ by Hall ended the outburst and cut the Knights’ deficit to 32-30 at half.
UCF couldn’t connect on five attempts prior to an early timeout at 17:30, with the Cyclones adding six in that span and taking a 38-30 lead. Another ‘and-one’ by Hall, ended the drought, but the Knights would get no closer than seven the rest of the contest.
The Cyclone lead would grow to 55-41 at the 10-minute point and it was not until the final two minutes that the Black and Gold made a late rush on a Hall layup, an Ivy-Curry steal and a layup and a Williams transition three that finally pushed the lead below 10 with 60 seconds to play.
Continuing to see his role expand, Williams displayed his best performance of the campaign, setting a season-high in minutes (27:39) and points (14) on a productive six of 12 from the field. Hall’s 22 led the Knights’ efforts, his 12th 20-point performance of the season and the 13th game this season the Cleveland native paced the Knights in scoring. Darius Johnson was also in double figures with 11 points.
Up Next:
UCF will shift their sights toward a road swing to end the five-game skid today (Saturday) in Colorado, with tipoff set for 3 p.m. on ESPN+. Without a win in conference play for the Buffaloes, each team will be aiming to move back into the win column.
Here is the box score:
Iowa State 77, UCF 65
Iowa State (19-5, 9-4)
Keshon Gilbert 6-9 2-2 15, Joshua Jefferson 4-8 5-5 13, Tamin Lipsey 2-7 6-6 11, Dishon Jackson 3-5 2-6 8, Milan Momcilovic 1-7 0-0 3, Curtis Jones 4-13 0-0 10, Brandton Chatfield 4-5 1-2 9, Nate Heise 3-5 0-0 8. Totals _ 27-59 16-21 77.
UCF (13-11, 4-9)
Keyshawn Hall 9-15 3-5 22, Darius Johnson 4-12 0-0 11, Jordan Ivy-Curry 4-12 0-1 8, Moustapha Thiam 2-6 2-4 6, Dallan "Deebo" Coleman 0-4 0-0 0, Mikey Williams 6-12 0-0 14, Dior Johnson 1-2 0-0 2, Tyler Hendricks 1-2 0-0 2, Benny Williams 0-0 0-0 0. Totals _ 27-65 5-10 65.
Halftime _ Iowa State 32, UCF 30. 3-point field goals _ Iowa State 7-28 (Jones 2-9, Heise 2-4, Lipsey 1-6, Momcilovic 1-5, Gilbert 1-2, Jefferson 0-2); UCF 6-26 (Da. Johnson 3-8, M. Williams 2-4, Hall 1-3, Ivy-Curry 0-5, Thiam 0-3, Coleman 0-2, Hendricks 0-1). Team fouls _ Iowa State 14; UCF 13. Fouled out _ none. Technical fouls _ UCF (Hall). Rebounds _ Iowa State 41 (Jefferson 8, Gilbert 7, Jones 6, Jackson 5); UCF 32 (Thiam 10, Hall 8). Turnovers _ Iowa State 11; UCF 9. Assists _ Iowa State 17 (Jones 5, Gilbert, Jefferson 4 each); UCF 14 (Da. Johnson 4, Thiam 3, Coleman 2). Steals _ Iowa State 5 (Lipsey 2); UCF 7 (Da. Johnson 3, Coleman 2). Blocked shots _ Iowa State 3 (Jefferson, Momcilovic, Chatfield); UCF 2 (Thiam 2).
