ORLANDO – Sporting faux-back Citronaut uniforms for the first #UCFinSpace game on the hardwood, the UCF men's basketball team recorded out-of-this-world shooting numbers to secure an 83-75 victory over visiting Tulsa Sunday afternoon at Addition Financial Arena.
"We beat a good basketball team," UCF head coach Johnny Dawkins said. "A basketball team that's been playing as good as any in our conference throughout conference play. I'm proud of our guys' effort. It takes a heck of an effort to play them and to score what we scored tonight. Really happy our guys were able to accomplish a good victory."
The Citronauts (13-10, 4-7) were on fire from beyond the arc, knocking down a season-high 12 from long distance. Going 12-of-21, the 57.1 shooting percentage from 3-point range was the highest mark for UCF this season by over 10 percentage points.
Freshman Darin Green Jr. launched himself into the spotlight on Sunday, connecting on six of his seven 3-point attempts, went 7-for-9 from the field overall and hit 6-of-8 from the free throw line, finishing with a career-high 26 points.
"Some of the shots we made, they had hands in our faces. We made tough shots," Dawkins said. "Darin was terrific of course. When you have nights like that where he's shooting it so well, there are not too many bad shots because he's hitting everything."
UCF needed the performances from Green and others, as leading scorer Collin Smith was hampered by foul trouble once again, scoring just one point in 17 minutes.
Sophomore forward Ibrahim Famouke Doumbia was especially key to the 'Nauts success on Sunday, scoring a career-best eight points on 2-of-3 shooting from the field and 4-of-6 from the free throw line. Doumbia also grabbed six rebounds in the victory.
"Collin scored a point, I didn't see that coming," Dawkins said. "I think it was good for our team overall because what it showed we're capable of scoring a lot of points when someone like Collin isn't having his best night. To see other guys step up, like Ibrahim, was really big."
UCF led by eight points at the break thanks to 14 first-half points from Green and extended the advantage to as many as 19 points when Green connected on a three with 7:17 to play.
The Golden Hurricane (15-8, 7-3) continued to cut into the Citronaut lead, getting it down to just four points with 14 seconds to play, but UCF was able to hold on with free throws from Green and Dazon Ingram down the stretch.
Ceasar DeJesus added 18 points for the Citronauts, going 8-of-13 from the floor, and dished out a game-high five assists. Ingram chipped in with 12 points on a perfect 3-of-3 from the field and grabbed a game-high eight rebounds.
The 'Nauts shot 55.6 percent from the field as a team and went 21-of-30 from the free throw line. UCF held Tulsa to just 33.3 percent shooting from 3-point range and outrebounded the Hurricane 32-25.
UCF will next be in action on Thursday, hosting Wichita State. The Knights and the Shockers are scheduled to tip off at 7 p.m. with coverage on ESPN2 and FM 96.9 The Game.
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