ORLANDO – Winners of four straight, the UCF men's basketball team (8-2, 1-0 AAC) will aim to extend its winning streak to five when UCF hosts Michigan (7-4, 1-1 Big Ten) Thursday night at Addition Financial Arena.
The Knights and the Wolverines are scheduled to tip off at 7 p.m. on ESPN2. Fans can also tune in to FM 96.9 The Game for an audio-only broadcast.
Coming into the season, Michigan was ranked as high as sixth in the country in the AP Top 25 Men's Basketball poll, but after dropping four games through the first two months of the season, the Wolverines have fallen out of the top 25 and are receiving votes.
Michigan is led by third-year head coach Juwan Howard, who after 19 years in the NBA, took over for the Wolverines to begin the 2019-20 season. In three years at the helm, Howard has led his program to a 49-21 record, including an Elite Eight appearance last season.
The Wolverines are anchored by their big center, Hunter Dickinson, who stands in at 7-foot-1 and 260 pounds. A sophomore, Dickinson leads Michigan with 15.6 points per game and over nine rebounds per contest.
Thursday will mark the second game between UCF and Michigan in the history of both programs as the Wolverines came away the victors in last year's contest, 80-58. In total, the Knights have played 13 games against the 14 teams that currently comprise the Big Ten.
In addition to being their fifth straight, a win over the Wolverines would move the Knights to 14-3 over their last 17 games played dating back to last season.
Game Information
Date: Thursday, Dec. 30
Time: 7 p.m. ET
TV: ESPN2
Radio: FM 96.9 The Game
ROUND TWO WITH THE WOLVERINES
- Thursday night's game marks the second of a home-and-home series between UCF and Michigan, with the Wolverines winning round one 80-58 last season at Crisler Center in Ann Arbor.
- After trailing UCF by as much as 12 (28-16) in the first half, Michigan reserves Chaundee Brown, Jr., Brandon Johns, Jr., Hunter Dickinson and Terrance Williams II entered and went on a 15-0 run over a five minute stretch to help the Wolverines claim the victory.
- Michigan shot 49.2 percent from the field and snagged 44 boards for a fourth straight game.
- Brown, Jr., paced the Wolverines as he had 11 of his team-high 18 points in the first half as he drained four three-pointers, while grabbing four rebounds and two assists.
- Dickinson posted a fourth straight double figure game with 14 points, while grabbing seven boards.
- Thursday's game will mark just the second between the two programs.
MONEY AT THE LINE
- As a team, UCF has knocked down 79.4 percent of its free throw opportunities through the first 10 games of the season, which leads the conference and is ninth in the nation as of Dec. 22.
- The Knights' current single-season record for highest field goal percentage is 76.1 percent (1975-76).
- Fifth year senior Brandon Mahan has not missed a free throw dating back to 02/01/21 at Memphis (last 20 games).
- Mahan is a perfect 45-for-45 in free throw attempts over that stretch.
- Mahan is currently UCF's all-time free throw percentage leader at 86.9 percent over his career.
- Six Knights are shooting 75.0 percent or better from the line as of Dec. 22 (min. eight attempts).
A+ START IN THE AMERICAN
- The Knights got off to a great start in American Athletic Conference play on Dec. 15 after securing a 65-48 win over Temple in Philadelphia.
- UCF held Temple to 19 first half points, the least amount of points UCF has allowed to an opponent in the first half since holding SMU to 14 on March 4, 2020 before going on to win, 61-58.
- UCF outscored the Owls by 18 in the second half after shooting 65 percent from the field, compared to just 19 percent through the first 20 minutes.
- Three Knights posted double-digit scoring totals in the victory as Brandon Mahan (18), Darin Green Jr. (17) and Tyem Freeman (14) all had solid outings.
- Mahan's 18 were a season-high for the fifth-year senior. He was also a perfect 7-for-7 from the free throw line.
- Freeman's 14 point scored marked a career-high for the first-year Knight, plus he added seven rebounds and three assists, also career-highs.
- With the win, UCF is now 4-2 all-time in league openers under head coach Johnny Dawkins.
DAWKINS ERA AT UCF
- Johnny Dawkins picked up career win No. 100 in the Knights' win over N.C. A&T on Dec. 11, becoming just the third coach in UCF history to reach the milestone.
- Dawkins is 102-62 since starting with the Knights in 2016, a win percentage of .622, the second best of any UCF coach (Torchy Clark, .754 from 1969-83).
- He has the third most wins over any UCF coach, trailing only Clark's 274 and Kirk Speraw's 247 from 1993-2010.
- Dawkins is the fastest coach to reach 100 wins in program history in the Division I era, needing only 162 games to do so.
- Dawkins had his squad off to a 4-0 start to begin the 2021-22 season, tying his 2017-18 mark for his best start to a season at UCF.
- 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).
- Prior to Dawkins' arrival at UCF, the program had won three games against ranked opponents from 1984-2016. Since Dawkins has taken over, the Knights have won five games against ranked opponents.
- UCF had never won two games against ranked teams in a single season, and the Knights did it in a span of five days, taking down No. 6 Houston and No. 19 Cincinnati late in the 2018-19 season.
- UCF is now 8-50 all-time against ranked opponents, but 5-16 against ranked teams under Dawkins.
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