STILLWATER, OK — The UCF men’s basketball team 13-13 overall, 4-11 in Big 12) dropped its seventh consecutive contest, falling to Oklahoma State (13-13, 5-10), 104-95, at Gallagher-Iba Arena late Wednesday night.
Illness keeps sweeping through the Knights, as they got Dior Johnson and Jordan Ivy-Curry back after missing last Saturday’s game, but were missing big men Moustapha Thiam (7-foot-2) and Benny Williams (6-foot-9) for this one. And that was after Mikey Williams and JJ Taylor had missed multiple games earlier.
Both teams came out firing, as UCF’s Keyshawn Hall nailed a 3-pointer just seconds into the game and would make two of its first three attempts and the Cowboys would hit 4-of-6, with the help of three Knights turnovers, giving the hosts an 11-7 lead at the 16-minute media break.
By the under-12 media timeout, Oklahoma State had a 12-2 advantage in points in the paint, a 5-0 edge in second chance points, and an 8-0 edge in points off turnovers, leading to a 26-14 lead eight minutes in. The Cowboys hit seven of their nine shot attempts leading into the timeout to build their lead.
The turnovers continued as the Knights coughed the ball up eight times in 12 minutes, hindering themselves from cutting into the dozen point deficit that sat at 36-24. Hall and Williams combined for all but three of UCF’s points with eight to play in the first, scoring 14 and seven, respectively.
The Black and Gold ended the half on a 6-0 run, but it was in the process of trimming a 19-point lead to 53-40. Fifteen turnovers plagued the Knights in the first 20 minutes, resulting in 20 Oklahoma State off those turnovers. The Cowboys missed their final six shots of the half and didn’t registered a point in the final 3:25 of the opening segment.
Going into half, Hall was given a technical foul, awarding Oklahoma State two free throws to start the second. The Cowboys hit one of two, and UCF got the ball to get the clock rolling. Oklahoma State was first to register a field goal, going up 56-40 a minute in.
UCF pieced together a 6-0 run, all via Jordan Ivy-Curry. He knocked down a pair of free throws and a fastbreak layup. Oklahoma State’s Abou Ousmane committed a foul before earning a technical foul of his own, as Ivy-Curry buried both ensuing free throws.
The Cowboys were able to stretch the lead back to 16, 69-53, but the Knights kept clawing back and the lead hovered around 10 points, which it was at 71-61 with 10:02 to play.
The guests made one final big push out of the under-eight media timeout, as Williams and Taylor knocked down three’s and Darius Johnson added back-to-back layups to cut Oklahoma State’s lead to just five, forcing the Cowboys to call a timeout with 4:50 to play and an 81-76 lead.
The hosts pulled away out of the timeout, going on a 6-0 run to regain its double digit lead at 87-76 with 3:19 to go. UCF cut it back to seven with 1:58 to play on a Johnson three-pointer and a pair of Hall makes from the charity stripe, but Oklahoma State made the free throws as the Black and Gold was forced to foul.
The turnover discrepancy was a large factor in Wednesday night’s ballgame, as the Knights finished with 20 turnovers, their most of the season, while forcing only seven, the fewest by an opponent on the campaign. Oklahoma State finished with a 26-5 edge in points off turnovers.
Fouls were also a big story as their were 51 fouls called, which resulted in a combined 73 free throw attempts.
Hall shone bright yet again, registering 34 points, while Darius Johnson added 23, 19 in the second half after missing a major portion of the first half with two fouls. Williams was also in double figures with 14 points, while Ivy-Curry chipped in with nine points and Dior Johnson eight.
Up Next:
The Knights return to Orlando for a two-game homestand, hosting Utah on Sunday at 4 p.m. before playing Kansas State on Wednesday at 7 p.m. Both games at Addition Financial Arena will br streamed by ESPN+.
Here is the box score:
Oklahoma State 104, UCF 95
UCF (13-13, 4-11)
Keyshawn Hall 9-20 14-17 34, Darius Johnson 8-12 6-7 23, Mikey Williams 6-11 0-1 14, Jordan Ivy-Curry 2-8 4-4 9, Rokas Jocius 0-2 0-0 0, Dior Johnson 2-2 3-3 8, JJ Taylor 1-1 1-2 4, Nils Machowski 0-1 2-2 2, Dallan "Deebo" Coleman 0-2 1-2 1, Tyler Hendricks 0-0 0-0 0. Totals _ 28-59 31-38 95.
Oklahoma State (13-13, 5-10)
Bryce Thompson 10-15 4-5 25, Abou Ousmane 6-12 4-5 17, Arturo Dean 5-9 5-8 16, Robert Jennings 2-5 5-5 9, Jamyron Keller 1-4 0-0 3, Khalil Brantley 4-7 7-8 15, Marchelus Avery 3-5 2-2 10, Brandon Newman 2-7 0-0 4, Connor Dow 1-6 1-2 3, Pat Suemnick 1-3 0-0 2, Davonte Davis 0-1 0-0 0. Totals _ 35-74 28-35 104.
Halftime _ Oklahoma State 53, UCF 40. 3-point field goals _ UCF 8-24 (Hall 2-6, Machowski 2-2, M. Williams 2-5, Ivy-Curry 1-5, Da. Johnson 1-3, Di. Johnson 1-1, Taylor 1-1, Coleman 0-2, Jocius 0-1); Oklahoma State 6-27 (Avery 2-4, Thompson 1-4, Keller 1-4, Ousmane 1-3, Dean 1-3, Newman 0-3, Dow 0-3, Brantley 0-2, Davis 0-1). Team fouls _ UCF 25; Oklahoma State 26. Fouled out _ UCF (Da. Johnson); Oklahoma State (Ousmane). Technical fouls _ UCF (Hall); Oklahoma State (Ousmane). Rebounds _ UCF 36 (M. Williams 7, Hall 6); Oklahoma State 39 (Dean 7, Avery 6, Jennings 5). Turnovers _ UCF 20; Oklahoma State 7. Assists _ UCF 14 (Da. Johnson 6, Ivy-Curry, Taylor 2 each); Oklahoma State 17 (Brantley 5, Dean 4, Thompson, Keller 3 each). Steals _ UCF 5 (Da. Johnson, Machowski 2 each); Oklahoma State 14 (Keller 4, Ousmane, Dean 3 each, Brantley 2). Blocked shots _ UCF 4 (Taylor, Hall 2 each); Oklahoma State 3 (Thompson, Ousmane, Newman).
