ORLANDO – As if picking up win number 100 at UCF wasn't satisfying enough for head coach Johnny Dawkins, he was able to savor the victory with hardly any stress as Dawkins led his Knights to an 83-68 thrashing over N.C. A&T Saturday in Orlando.
"I'm happy that I was able to achieve this goal with this group," said Dawkins. "The wins for me are really an honor for them because I didn't shoot any of those balls. Those players that helped me get to 100 wins, they're the reason why I have that number.
"Nobody gets anywhere by themselves, especially on a team. We are all in this together, and I think this was a shining example of what I mean by that."
Congrats on ??, @Coach_Dawkins pic.twitter.com/BYnUiWYavb
— UCF Men's Hoops (@UCF_MBB) December 11, 2021
The Knights moved to 6-2 following the win as Darin Green Jr. led the squad with 18 points and UCF shot 52 percent from the field to defeat the Aggies.
Sophomore forward Isaiah Adams also broke out in a big way for UCF in the win, setting his season-high with 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting, while adding five rebounds to the mix.
After a slow start to the contest, the Knights began to find their groove as the afternoon went on at Addition Financial Arena. A 9-0 run had UCF up 33-17 halfway through the first half and the Knights closed out the first 20 minutes of play with a 46-34 lead over the Aggies after shooting an efficient 58.6 percent from the field, including a 42.9 percent mark (6-of-14) on threes.
It was again a slow start for the black and gold to open the second half of play as N.C. A&T outpaced the Knights, 15-10 through the first 12 minutes, but UCF found its footing once more and began to swing things back in their favor from there.
The Knights closed out strong to secure the 15-point margin of victory.
Dawkins, who began his coaching career with the Knights in 2016, is 100-62 since starting with the Knights, a win percentage of .617, 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, and he 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) over that time.
Dawkins and his squad will be back at it on Wednesday, Dec. 15 as the Knights open American Athletic Conference Play at Temple. Tipoff against the Owls is set for 7:00 p.m.
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