COLUMBIA, S.C. (UCFKnights.com) –The UCF men’s basketball team (24-8) just made history. With their 73-58 win over VCU (25-8), the Knights earned the first NCAA Tournament victory in program history and advanced to play top seeded Duke in the Second Round on Sunday.
Tournament Notes
- This is the first time UCF has ever won a game in the NCAA Tournament.
- The Knights are now 1-4 all-time in the NCAA Tournament.
- This was UCF’s first NCAA Tournament game since 2005 and the program’s first at-large berth.
- At nine, it is the highest the Knights have ever been seeded, previously seeded as high as 14 in 2004.
Game Notes
- An 11-0 UCF run made it 13-7 in favor of the Knights with 10:50 to go in the first half.
- The Knights then used a 10-0 run to make it 34-24 at halftime.
- That spurt continued to 19-0 and made it 43-24 with 15:23 to play in the game.
- UCF held the Rams scoreless for 10:05 from 4:34 to go in the first half to 14:19 in the second half.
- The Knights outrebounded the Rams 42-34 and improved to 20-1 on the season when outrebounding their opponent.
- UCF shot 49.1 percent from the field and a season-high 64.3 percent from three-point range, the eighth best three-point percentage in a single-game by any UCF team.
- The Rams were held to just 31.1 percent shooting and 23.1 percent beyond the arc.
Team Notes
- UCF has now won 24 games this season, just one victory away from the program’s Division I record for victories in a season, set in 2003-04.
- The 24 wins match a best for UCF under Johnny Dawkins, also winning 24 games in 2016-17.
- The Knights are a perfect 4-0 in neutral site games this season.
- UCF improves to 23-0 on the year when tied or leading with two minutes remaining in the game.
Player Notes
- Coming into the game 11th in the nation in blocked shots, Tacko Fall finished with five blocks on Friday.
- He now has 277 blocks in his career, which is a program record.
- Fall also went 6-for-9 from the floor after coming in shooting 75.4 percent from the field.
- The 7-foot-6 big man will finish his career as the NCAA’s all-time Division I leader in field goal percentage.
- Fall set UCF single-game program records with 18 rebounds and five blocked shots in an NCAA Tournament game.
- He had UCF’s first-ever double-double in the NCAA Tournament.
- Fall was also one of three Knights in double figures, scoring 13 points.
- BJ Taylor, the Knights’ leading scorer, finished with 15 points to lead the way.
- He added to his program record for single-season free throws, going 3-for-4 from the line to give him 178 for the season.
The Knights move onto take on Duke Sunday at 5:15 p.m. The game will be televised on CBS and FM 96.9 The Game.