ORLANDO — Though his time on the floor was brief, the impact it brings will carry through the remainder of the 2024-25 campaign.
Shortly after taking the floor for the first time this season, marking the completion of his recovery from a preseason injury, senior guard Jaylin Sellers received a lob from junior transfer Keyshawn Hall and elicited a roar from the Addition Financial Arena crowd with an emphatic dunk.
“I was really happy for him,” said UCF Head Coach Johnny Dawkins. ”Our guys did a good job of finding him. He’s been missing for quite some time, and in several cases guys went out of their way to make sure they found him to make a play, and he came through and made the play. We’re better with him on the court.”
The season debuts of Sellers and redshirt freshman Mikey Williams, coupled with four Knights eclipsing double-digit scoring, highlighted UCF’s latest win, a convincing 86-66 effort over the visiting Jacksonville Dolphins that punctuated the Black and Gold’s 2024-25 non-conference slate Saturday evening.
The Knights’ (9-2) victory over their in-state foe, one that featured the team’s highest single-game field goal percentage in almost five years (58.7 percent), also put a bow on their first perfect home non-conference showing since the 2011-12 season. When factoring in its Saturday win, UCF went a perfect 8-0 in Orlando against No. 13 Texas A&M, Purdue Fort Wayne, Florida Atlantic, Tennessee Tech, Milwaukee, California Baptist, Tarleton State and Jacksonville.
“Our guys did an excellent job of following the gameplan,” added Dawkins. “Our guys got off to a good start defensively, getting good stops that we were able to turn into offense. We shot the ball really well tonight and had a good game.”
The early dunk not only represented a positive next step in Sellers’ journey back to peak game condition, but also ignited UCF’s offense to help complement the team’s defensive efforts to start the evening’s affairs.
Prior to Jaylin’s entry with just under 13 minutes to play in the first half, the Knights clung to an 11-7 advantage, yielding just three Dolphins (6-6) field goals. His dunk kickstarted an offensive flurry for the Black and Gold, beginning with four Dior Johnson points and three straight converted 3-point tries by Jordan Ivy-Curry.
Once the contest reached a media break with 3:35 to play in the first half, UCF had opened its lead to 32-21, an advantage that ballooned to 47-29 at halftime thanks to a fourth Ivy-Curry triple, the first 3-point shot from Hall, and made free throws by Hall, Ivy-Curry and Benny Williams.
Defensively, UCF limited Jacksonville to just a buzzer-beating 3-point field goal in the final 2:46 of the first 20 minutes, while Ivy-Curry paced the squad with 16 first-half points on 5-of-7 shooting including his four triples.
Ivy-Curry opened the final period with his fifth 3-pointer of the evening, matching his season high in 3-point field goals made against LSU Nov. 24 and securing his third consecutive game with at least four triples and his fifth such showing this season.
His 19 points also clinched his 11th consecutive game in double figures to begin his Knights tenure, one shy of matching Sellers’ 12 to begin the 2023-24 campaign.
Hall, meanwhile, who totaled a game-high 21 to record his fourth 20-plus-point display of the year, followed Ivy-Curry’s second-half triple with four straight points before finishing a layup at the rim that pushed the Knights’ lead up to 57-39 with 14:32 to play.
As the Knights retained command of the contest down the stretch, Williams joined Sellers in making his season debut on the heels of Sellers’ first 3-point shot of the season.
Though Williams will wait just a bit longer for his first collegiate points, the redshirt freshman produced a well-executed bounce pass to junior Rokas Jocius for his first career assist with two minutes remaining.
In addition to Hall and Ivy-Curry, Darius Johnson (12 points) and freshman center Moustapha Thiam (10) also scoring in double figures.
Up Next:
With their non-conference schedule complete, the Knights shift their focus to their Big 12 Conference opener against the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. from United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas. on December 31, and will be streamed on ESPN+.
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Here is the box score:
UCF 86, Jacksonville 66
Jacksonville (6-6)
Robert McCray 7-12 3-4 18, Jakari Spence 2-7 3-4 7, Chris Arias 2-6 3-3 7, Donovan Rivers 2-3 0-0 4, Zimi Nwokeji 1-6 0-0 3, Enrico Borio 4-7 0-0 11, Stephon Payne III 1-3 3-4 5, Zach Bell 2-3 0-0 4, Tito Deng 1-2 0-0 3, Kendall Munson 1-3 0-1 2, Kent Jackson 0-4 2-2 2, Fuentes Maximus 0-0 0-0 0. Totals _ 23-56 14-18 66.
UCF (9-2)
Keyshawn Hall 5-7 10-11 21, Jordan Ivy-Curry 6-12 2-2 19, Darius Johnson 3-5 4-4 12, Moustapha Thiam 4-4 2-4 10, Dallan "Deebo" Coleman 1-4 2-2 5, Jaylin Sellers 3-4 0-0 7, Benny Williams 2-2 2-2 6, Dior Johnson 2-4 0-0 4, Rokas Jocius 1-1 0-0 2, Poohpha Warakulnukroh 0-0 0-0 0, Tyler Hendricks 0-2 0-0 0, Nils Machowski 0-1 0-0 0, Mikey Williams 0-0 0-0 0. Totals _ 27-46 22-25 86.
Halftime _ UCF 47, Jacksonville 29. 3-point field goals _ Jacksonville 6-20 (Borio 3-6, Nwokeji 1-5, McCray 1-2, Deng 1-1, Jackson 0-4, Arias 0-2); UCF 10-17 (Ivy-Curry 5-9, Da. Johnson 2-3, Hall 1-2, Sellers 1-2, Coleman 1-1, Di. Johnson 0-1, Jocius 0-1). Team fouls _ Jacksonville 20; UCF 14. Fouled out _ none. Technical fouls _ none. Rebounds _ Jacksonville 24 (Nwokeji 5, Arias 4); UCF 31 (Da. Johnson 6, Coleman, Thiam 5 each). Turnovers _ Jacksonville 17; UCF 18. Assists _ Jacksonville 11 (McCray, Spence 4 each); UCF 17 (Hall, Da. Johnson, Di. Johnson 3 each). Steals _ Jacksonville 12 (Spence 4, Borio 3); UCF 12 (Da. Johnson 5, Ivy-Curry 3). Blocked shots _ Jacksonville 4 (McCray, Nwokeji, Borio, Munson); UCF 4 (Thiam 3).
