ORLANDO – The UCF men's basketball team looks to bounce back after a close loss as it hosts Maine at 7 p.m. on Monday.
GAME INFORMATION
Date: Monday, Dec. 18, 2023
Time: 7 p.m. ET
Location: Addition Financial Arena; Orlando, Fla.
TV: Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Talent: Austin Lyon (PxP), Mike O'Donnell (Analyst)
Radio: FM 96.9/AM 740 The Game and SiriusXM channel 381
Talent: Marc Daniels (PxP), Taylor Young (Analyst)
Live Stats: click here
KNIGHT NOTES
- Darius Johnson has been on a roll as of late, scoring a career-high 25 points on 11/20/23 against Charlotte and then matching that point total four games later against Ole Miss on 12/10/23. Johnson has averaged 18.0 points per game over the last five games. In total, he has tallied double-digit points in seven of UCF’s nine games thus far. The junior guard is currently ranked 39th in the nation in steals per game, averaging 2.22 steals a contest. Johnson tallied his 200th career assist at Miami, passing the ball to Nils Machowski for a three-pointer. Johnson recorded 106 of his now 227 assists last season in 25 games played, a 4.24 assist per game mark in 2022-23. Johnson is 41 assists away from a tie of 10th place on UCF’s career assists leaderboard, a spot currently held by Daiquan Walker (2012-16) who recorded 268. The all-time assists leader at UCF is Sinua Phillips (1990-94) who tallied 531.
- Sophomore forward Thierno Sylla had a breakout game against Jacksonville on 12/6, scoring 20 points and hauling in 11 rebounds and added two blocked shots and an assist. The points, rebounds, field goals made (seven) and attempted (11), as well as free throws made (four) and attempted (five) were all career highs.
- Jaylin Sellers has been one of the nation’s most prolific scorers to begin the 2023-24 campaign. He is averaging 19.6 points per game which is the 34th-highest mark in the nation and first in the Big 12. Sellers scored 15 points or more in UCF’s first eight games before scoring 11 against Ole Miss. The last UCF newcomer to score double digits in their first nine games was Aubrey Dawkins, who helped lead the Knights to an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2018-19. Dawkins went on to score 10 or more points in 18 consecutive contests to begin his redshirt junior campaign and tallied 20 or more points on four occasions during the streak.
- As a team, UCF is approaching a top-10 national ranking in blocks per game, currently sitting 15th with 5.7 per game. According to KenPom, the Knights rank seventh in the nation in block percentage, which is the amount of blocked shots divided by the amount of two-point attempts an opponent takes. Ibrahima Diallo is currently averaging 2.33 blocks per game which stands as the top mark in the Big 12 and 18th nationally.
- UCF is currently averaging 16.56 forced turnovers per game, a mark that is ranked 21st in the nation and fourth in the Big 12. The Knights also rank in the top 50 in steals and blocks per game, sitting 15th in blocks per game with a 5.7 average and 21st in steals per game with a mark of 9.7.
- Fifth year transfer guard Antwann Jones made his UCF debut in the team’s contest against Ole Miss on 12/10/23, playing in nearly 16 minutes, scoring three points while tallying four rebounds and three assists. The three assists were tied for the team lead on the evening. Jones was previously with Louisiana (2021-22), Creighton (2020-21) and Memphis (2018-19).
- UCF’s streak of eight consecutive games of scoring 72 or more points in each contest to start a season was snapped after scoring 68 against Ole Miss. The Knights averaged 79.2 points per game over the streak to start the 2023-24 campaign, which averaged 7.7 points per contest better than the 71.5 posted last season. The last time a UCF team began the first eight games of a season with 72 or more points scored in each game was during the 1979-80 season, a year in which the Knights went 24-4 and made a run to the Division II NCAA Tournament Sweet 16. That team pieced together 17 straight 72+ point outings to begin the year and averaged 101.2 points per game on the run. The 72+ point streak was the longest under Dawkins, besting a previous run of five in a row in the 2019-20 season.
- UCF is 35-12 in the month of December under Johnny Dawkins, never losing more than two games in any December while he has been at the helm. Two of Dawkins’ five victories over top-25 teams at UCF have come in the month of December. The Black and Gold are 26-4 at home in December during Dawkins’ tenure. The Knights have averaged 71.7 points per game in December under Dawkins while holding foes to just 61.8 points per game, a near double-digit margin of 9.9 points per contest.
ABOUT THE MATCHUP
- The Knights and Black Bears have matched up five times before with UCF owning a 4-1 edge in the all-time series. The two sides first met in 1974 and will reunite for the first time since 2002 when the Black and Gold beat Maine 72-55 in New Orleans, Louisiana, at the University Hoops Classic.
SCOUTING MAINE
- Kellen Tynes has begun the season averaging a team high in points (14.3 - 9th in America East) and steals (1.9 - 3rd in America East) per contest, which ranks him nationally at 86th in steals per game. His 23 total steals are good for the 29th most steals in the NCAA. Tynes ranks fifth in the America East in assist-to-turnover ratio with a 1.95 ratio. One season ago, Tynes became the first Black Bear in program history to be named a Conference Defensive Player of the Year, a National Semifinalist for Defensive Player of the Year and his numbers were above anyone else in the entire NCAA. Tynes led the country with 98 steals (excluding the NCAA Tournament) and his average of 3.27 steals per game also led the country and were the most in the NCAA in three years.
- Jaden Clayton has emerged as one of the most reliable point guards in the America East in the early part of the season as he is fourth in the league in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.82 and his 51 assists are good for the 49th most in the country in the early part of the season. His 20 steals on the season have him ranked 61st in the country and fourth in the America East. Clayton recent had a stretch in which he scored 15 points in back-to-back outings against Holy Cross and Brown, his most points scored in a two-game span in his collegiate career. As a freshman in 2022-23, Clayton established himself as a reliable passer as the point guard for the new look Black Bears. Clayton ranked third in the America East with 3.9 assists per game, which was the third most in the conference and his 118 total assists were also the third most in the conference.
- Peter Filipovity continues to reward Coach Markwood and his staff on their decision to insert him into the starting lineup by averaging the second most points per contest on the team at 13.6 (11th in America East), all while shooting at a 57.8% (6th in America East) mark from the field. His 6.8 rebounds per game also leads the Black Bears and are the fourth-most rebounds per game in the America East. His three double-doubles on the season is good for the 43rd most in the NCAA on the season and the second-most in the America East. Over his past eight games, he has set a new career-high of 23 points with an outburst against South Florida to lead the Black Bears to the victory. He also tied his career-high in rebounds with 12 rebounds, a mark he just hit again in the victory over Holy Cross. He has recorded three double-doubles during his current stretch of solid play, which has him averaging 16.7 points per game and 9.7 rebounds per game over the past six contests.