ORLANDO – With just two games under its belt, the UCF men's basketball team finally gets back to action on Saturday. The Knights (1-1) will take on Florida State at 9 p.m. in Tallahassee with coverage on ACC Network and FM 96.9 The Game.
UCF opened up the 2020-21 season with a 63-55 home win over Auburn on Nov. 30, but then lost on the road at Michigan, 80-58, back on Dec. 6. The Knights will go 12 days without playing in a game, before taking on the Seminoles Saturday night.
Florida State is currently ranked 15th in both national polls and has started the 2020-21 season with four victories, including wins over Indiana, Florida and a recent conference win over Georgia Tech.
UCF and Florida State have battled 11 times in the all-time series with the Seminoles winning all 11 games. The two teams have faced off eight times in Tallahassee, but haven't met at all since the 2014-15 season.
Game Information
Date: Saturday, Dec. 19
Time: 9 p.m. ET
TV: ACC Network
Radio: FM 96.9 The Game
DAWKINS ERA AT UCF
- Johnny Dawkins has made an immedate impact as head coach for the UCF men's basketball team, winning 84 games in just over four years at the helm.
- Dawkins is 84-49 since starting with the Knights in 2016, a win percentage of .632, the second best of any UCF coach (Torchy Clark, .754 from 1969-83).
- He has the third most wins over any UCF coach, trailing Clark's 274 and Kirk Speraw's 247 from 1993-2010.
- Dawkins has led UCF to its first NIT Final Four (2017), first at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament (2019) and first NCAA Tournament win (2019).
FULLER FEELING FINE
- Dre Fuller Jr. said in a media availability prior to the start of the season that he was feeling 100 percent for the first time in a long time.
- That was evident in the win over Auburn as he led the Knights with 13 points to go with seven rebounds and a career high five assists, starting at point guard.
- He only scored four points in the loss at Michigan, but grabbed three rebounds and dished out three assists.
- Fuller sat out his true freshman season while dealing with an injury and then missed 10 games last season due to injury.
- The 6-foot-5 multi-faceted guard averaged 6.3 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game while averaging just 19.0 minutes per contest a season ago.
- He was impressive in the month of December as a redshirt freshman, scoring in double figures in four straight games, which included 13 points and eight rebounds at Oklahoma.
MORE OF MAHAN
- Back for his second year in the black and gold, you could see even more of Brandon Mahan this season.
- The Texas A&M transfer played in all 30 games as a junior in 2019-20, starting 14 times.
- Mahan averaged 7.5 points and 3.7 rebounds per contest while knocking down 31 three-pointers and shooting 73.8 percent from the free throw line a season ago.
- His best outing as a Knight was in the win at Cincinnati on Feb. 19, matching his career high with 20 points.
- In the win over Auburn, Mahan scored all 12 of his points in the second half to help lead the Knights to victory.
- In the loss at Michigan, he scored a career high 21 points on 7-of-13 shooting, 2-of-3 from long distance and 5-for-5 from the free throw line.
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