ORLANDO – The UCF men's basketball team finally got back to the court on Monday night, opening the 2020-21 season with a 63-55 home victory over visiting Auburn in front of a reduced crowd at Addition Financial Arena.
The Knights' 2020 first-round American Athletic Conference Tournament game was canceled at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic way back on March 12. After reshuffling the schedule and pushing back the start of the 2020-21 campaign, UCF once again had a cancellation, what should have been the opener against Oklahoma this past Saturday.
Finally, the boys in black and gold hit the court in an official capacity again, and the results were good.
"I really liked our effort," head coach Johnny Dawkins said. "We knew we were going to play a team that had a few games under their belt. They're well coached. They have a great culture there with how hard they play. Matching that, I was happy to see our competitiveness and the way we were able to sustain it for 40 minutes."
The players UCF fans know gave what you would expect and more, as returners Dre Fuller Jr., Brandon Mahan and Darin Green Jr. all finished in double figures scoring.
Those they might not know so well were impressive as well. Notably, Oregon transfer C.J. Walker and freshman Isaiah Adams, who both had nine points in the victory.
Auburn (1-2) had already played two games, defeating Saint Joseph's and falling to no. 1 Gonzaga in a multi-team tournament in Fort Meyers. UCF (1-0), or this specific version of the Knights, came in with no game experience.
Given all of that, and the obviously difficult style of play of Bruce Pearl's defense, and Monday night's outing was an impressive performance for Dawkins' squad.
In true Dawkins fashion, UCF got it done on defense, holding the Tigers to 32.3 percent shooting from the field and 20.6 percent from 3-point range. The Knights had 12 steals and outscored Auburn 17-14 on the break.
Fuller led the way with 13 points, while adding seven rebounds and a career-high five assists, filling in for injured Darius Perry at the point guard position. Mahan had 12 on 4-of-9 shooting and a perfect 4-of-4 from the free throw line, scoring all of his points in the second half to put the Tigers away. Green had 10 on a pair of 3-pointers.
"He was big," Dawkins said of Mahan. "We know he's capable of doing that. He really stepped up for us. He gave us senior leadership. He gave us a calmness out there. He was poised. He had been in games like this before. For our young freshmen and sophomores who hadn't had a lot of minutes, he was like a big brother giving them a steadying influence."
Walker, who came off the bench but played 32 minutes in his return home after playing last season as a freshman at Oregon, scored nine points and grabbed eight rebounds, matching his career high. Adams, Florida's Mr. Basketball last year out of Paxon in Jacksonville, had nine points on 4-of-6 shooting and added three rebounds with two steals.
The Knights will be back in action on Dec. 6, heading on the road for the first of three games away from Orlando, taking on Michigan in Ann Arbor. UCF will then play at Houston and at Florida State before returning home to host Cincinnati on Dec. 22.
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