Men's Hoops Set for Crown Semifinal vs. Villanova

ORLANDO – The UCF men's basketball team looks to make its way to the College Basketball Crown final, facing Villanova for its semifinal matchup Saturday afternoon.

GAME INFORMATION
Date: Saturday, April 5, 2025
Time: 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT
Location: Las Vegas, Nev.; T-Mobile Arena
TV: FOX
TV Talent: Gus Johnson (PxP), Jim Jackson (Analyst), Kristina Pink (Sideline)
Radio: FM 96.9/AM 740 The Game
Radio Talent: Marc Daniels (PxP)

KNIGHT NOTES

• The Knights punched their ticket to the semifinals of the College Basketball Crown with an 88-80 victory over Big 12 rival Cincinnati, snapping a five-game losing streak to the Bearcats. Two second half 10-0 runs helped lead UCF to the win. Darius Johnson had 31 points, his fourth career 30+ point game and second of the season. He hit five three pointers on the night, his Johnson was joined by a trio of other double-digit scorers with Tyler Hendricks posting 14 points, Moustapha Thiam with 13 and Nils Machowski with 11. UCF knocked down 10 or more three-pointers for the for fourth straight game and fifth time in the last six contests. Johnson has now played the most posteason games in UCF’s Division I history (conference tournaments and NIT/College Basketball Crown), passing BJ Taylor who appeared in 12 during his tenure.
• UCF earned a thrilling 76-75 victory over Oregon State in the first round of the College Basketball Crown, using a defensive stand on the game’s final possession to secure the victory. A trio of Knights scored 15 points in the win, two of which were career-high point totals for Tyler Hendricks and Nils Machowski; Darius Johnson also had 15 points. Hendricks hauled in a career-best 10 rebounds for his first double-double. Johnson’s six-game streak of 20+ points was snapped in the contest.
• With the Knights two wins in Las Vegas, UCF is guaranteed a record greater than .500 for the fourth straight campaign, something that Coach Dawkins has now accomplished twice in his nine seasons with UCF. A coach other than Dawkins hadn’t had four straight winning seasons since Kirk Speraw did it from 2001-02 to 2004-05. A victory over Villanova would give UCF 20 wins on the campaign, the third time with Dawkins and 10th as a D-I program.
• For the fifth time in head coach Johnny Dawkins’ nine seasons, UCF will take part in a postseason tournament. UCF’s trip to the inaugural College Basketball Crown is the third consecutive postseason appearance; the Knights were in the NIT the past two seasons, which included a win at Florida in the 2023 NIT. The appearance in the Crown will mark Dawkins’ 10th postseason appearance as a head coach over his 17 seasons.
• UCF’s College Basketball Crown victories over Oregon State and Cincinnati were the first games and first wins in the month of April in program history. The previous latest game on the calendar in program history was UCF’s NIT semifinals appearance against TCU on March 28, 2017. The Knights, along with Kansas State, Iowa State and Arizona State, were the only Big 12 teams to not play a game in April. Prior to the start of the Crown, six Big 12 schools that have played in April do not have a win in the month. Currently, Kansas leads the Big 12 with eight wins in the month of April, followed by Baylor with four, Texas Tech and UCF with two and Houston, Colorado, Cincinnati and Utah all with one.
• UCF earned 10 or more three-pointers for the 15th time this season against Cincinnati and have now hit 10 or more threes in five of its last six games after not doing so for the entire month of February. The streak including tying a season-high 14 made threes vs. Kansas in the second round of the Big 12 Championship. The Black and Gold have knocked down a program record 306 three pointers this season, breaking the previous record during the College Basketball Crown first round. The mark tops the 295 made triples during the 2022-23 season. The Knights average 8.7 made three pointers per game, close to the highest number of made threes during Dawkins’ tenure at 8.8 during the 2021-22 campaign. The high clip has helped UCF to its highest scoring offense under Dawkins as well.
• Johnson, who has spent all four of his seasons with the Knights, is playing his best basketball down the stretch. His 15 points against Oregon State ended his six straight 20+ point game streak, topping his previous best of just two straight earlier this season. He got right back to it though, scoring 31 vs. Cincinnati next time out. Johnson has averaged 24.7 points per game over the six-game stretch, shooting 51.5% from the field and 42.6% from deep while making two or more threes in all but one game over the stretch, including three games with four or more made.

THE MATCHUP

• UCF is in search of its first win over Villanova as the Wildcats took the first two meetings. The last time the two programs met was in 2016 when the third-ranked Wildcats beat the Knights 67-57 in the Charleston Classic final in Coach Dawkins' first season with UCF.

SCOUTING VILLANOVA

• It was Eric Dixon to the rescue for Villanova again in Thursday night’s 60-59 victory over USC. The native of Willow Grove, Pa., registered his 23rd game of 20 points or more, notching 28 to help the Wildcats rally from a 41-29 second half deficit. The nation’s leading scorer averages 23.1 points per contest and his 786 points scored in 2024-25 are the fourth highest single season total in program history. Bob Schafer (836) holds the program record followed by Bill Melchionni (801) and Howard Porter (799).
• The Wildcats improved to 17-4 this season (.800) and 33-9 (.810) over the last two seasons when holding opponents to fewer than 70 points in a game with Thursday’s victory. They are 4-9 (.308) in 2024-25 when foes score 70 or more points and 5-20 (.200) in that spot over the last two seasons.
• Senior transfer guard Wooga Poplar (Miami) added 14 of his 16 points Thursday night in the first half as the ‘Cats struggled to score. Over the last 12 games he has averaged 16.2 points and 6.6 rebounds. For the season, the 6-5 Poplar leads the Wildcats in rebounding (6.9 rpg) and is second on
  the team in scoring (14.8 ppg).
• Villanova has appeared in a postseason tournament in every season since 2012-13 save for the COVID year of 2019-20 (when the ‘Cats shared the BIG EAST regular season title). From 2012-22, VU was a part of 10 NCAA Tournaments, reaching three Final Fours and claiming two titles. In the past two seasons, it earned NIT invitations and now adds the College Basketball Crown to its list.
• With its win Thursday night, Villanova improved to 25-6 in NCAA, NIT and College Basketball Crown action since 2013 (.806).