ORLANDO — UCF men’s basketball continues its historic season as the Knights received an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament for the first time in seven years. The Black and Gold head to Philadelphia as the No. 10 seed and will play 7 seed UCLA. The winner of the contest lines up with the winner of the Friday contest between No. 2 seed UConn and No. 15 seed Furman. The final would be on Sunday.
UCF (21-11) is set to face the Bruins (23-11) inside Xfinity Mobile Arena on Friday, March 20. It will be the first time the Knights face UCLA.
This marks UCF’s sixth NCAA Tournament appearance since joining the Division I ranks in 1984-85, and the second at-large berth in program history. The Knights automatic qualifiers came in 1994, 1996, 2004 and 2005 when the Black and Gold won the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament. UCF received its first at-large bid in 2019, following a successful season in the American Athletic Conference.
Last Wednesday, UCF held the lead for just 5 minutes and 51 seconds inside T-Mobile Center _ but that was all they needed, storming back to steal a 66-65 overtime victory against the Cincinnati Bearcats, in the second round of the Big 12 Tournament.
Playing at full strength for the first time since its Feb. 17 win against TCU, UCF turned in a complete performance. Jamichael Stillwell led the Knights with a 17-point, 15-rebound double-double, while John Bol and Riley Kugel finished with double digits of their own to help lift the Knights into the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament for the first time since joining the conference.
"This team has done this all season long,” said Head Coach Johnny Dawkins, “just their competitive spirit. It showed in the summer. It showed up again tonight, just their will to win.”
After falling into a scoring drought that stretched more than four minutes, the Knights found themselves trailing by 12, 49-37, with just under 10 minutes remaining. But the situation was far from unfamiliar for the Cardiac Knights.
UCF has made a habit of late rallies this season, erasing double-digit deficits four times already: a 10-point comeback against Quinnipiac, a 14-point rally at Texas A&M, another 14-point comeback against Florida Atlantic, and a 12-point surge to defeat Arizona State. And before long, the Bearcats found themselves fighting just to hold on to the lead.
It was a dunk from Jordan Burks that finally gave the Knights the spark they needed, igniting a 14-7 run that pulled them within two, 58-56, with 1:17 remaining. The surge, fueled by six points from Stillwell, set the stage for overtime, but it was Kugel who forced it, converting a late layup to tie the game at 58-58 and send it to an extra five minutes.
In the extra period, Stillwell struck first with a layup, and from that moment on, the Knights refused to give the lead back. The Bearcats kept pressing, but Bol slammed the door at the free-throw line, calmly knocking down all four of his attempts in the closing moments, securing the Knights' 66-65 victory.
But the No. 8 seeded Knights fell to top-seeded and No. 2-ranked Arizona, 81-59, Thursday afternoon in the quarterfinals.
UCF was led by Themus Fulks and Burks, who finished with 14 and 10 points, respectively. Chris Johnson provided a spark off the bench with 10 points on 5-of-9 shooting. Kugel, was limited to six points after picking up his fourth foul with 15:50 remaining.
Stillwell led the team on the glass with 11 rebounds, his ninth game this season with 10+ boards. He totaled 24 points and 26 rebounds in the two tournament games this week.
Arizona (30-2), widely projected as a No. 1 seed in next week’s NCAA Tournament, showed its offensive firepower early. The Wildcats used a 15-0 run midway through the first half to build separation and carried a 46-30 advantage into the break.
The Knights battled through a tough shooting stretch early in the game. Arizona jumped out to a 14-2 lead in the opening five minutes as UCF began the afternoon 1-of-9 from the field.
Despite the slow start, the Knights stayed within striking distance late in the half, using a 12-5 run to trim the deficit before halftime. The surge was highlighted by a breakaway dunk from Johnson, who finished through contact.
The Knights continued to fight in the second half, cutting the Wildcats’ lead to 12 (54-42) at the 11:20 mark on a running jumper by Johnson. UCF again trimmed the deficit to 12 on a three-pointer from Fulks with 4:48 remaining, but Arizona responded down the stretch to secure the win.
UCF finished the afternoon shooting 37 percent from the field and 14 percent from three-point range, which ultimately did them in.
Brayden Burries paced the Wildcats with 21 points, including three from beyond the arc, while Tobe Awaka added a 12-point, 12-rebound double-double.
