ORLANDO – The UCF men’s basketball team is set to face its fourth in-state foe of the 2023-24 season as the Knights host Jacksonville on Wednesday night inside Addition Financial Arena.
GAME INFORMATION
Date: Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2023
Time: 7 p.m. ET
Location: Addition Financial Arena; Orlando, Fla.
TV: Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Talent: Austin Lyon (PxP), B.J. Taylor (Analyst)
Radio: FM 96.9/AM 740 The Game
Talent: Marc Daniels (PxP), Taylor Young (Analyst)
Live Stats: click here
KNIGHT NOTES
- Darius Johnson tallied 19 points against Lipscomb on Dec. 2, the third-highest scoring game of his career. The outing came just two games after a career-high 25 point mark against Charlotte. He is on the best three-game streak of his career, scoring 59 points. He has led UCF in scoring twice this season and has been in double-figure scoring in all but one 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 221 assists last season in 25 games played, a 4.24 assist per game mark in 2022-23. Johnson is 47 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. Johnson has led the team in assists in five of UCF’s contests thus far.
- UCF is 34-11 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 Knights have averaged 71.3 points per game in December under Dawkins while holding foes to just 61.9 points per game, a near double-digit margin of 9.4 points per contest.
- As a team, UCF is approaching a top-25 national ranking in blocks per game, currently sitting 30th with 5.3 per game. According to KenPom, the Knights rank eighth 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 2.57 blocks per game which stands as the top mark in the Big 12 and 13th nationally. Diallo swatted aside five shots against Cal St. Fullerton, leading the Knights. He also led UCF in rebounds with eight in that contest, adding eight points and a steal in the process. Diallo has led the Knights in blocks in six of seven games so far this season and has three or more blocks in four of seven contests.
- UCF is currently averaging 17.14 forced turnovers per game, a mark that is ranked 18th in the nation and third in the Big 12. The Knights also rank in the top 50 in steals and blocks per game, sitting 30th in blocks per game with a 5.3 average and 46th in steals per game with a mark of 9.0. The Knights defense impressed on opening night, generating 24 turnovers and 16 steals. The turnovers were the most since forcing 24 turnovers at Memphis on Feb. 16, 2023. The 16 steals marked the first time the Knights recorded 16 steals since facing Cincinnati on Feb. 19, 2020. UCF added 18 forced turnovers and 11 steals at then-No. 13 Miami on Nov. 10, 2023. UCF has forced double-digit turnovers in each of its seven games thus far and have forced 15 or more in six of the seven.
- Jaylin Sellers has been one of the nation’s most prolific scorers to begin the 2023-24 campaign. He is averaging 21.3 points per game, which as of Tuesday morning, is the 16th-highest mark in the nation and first in the Big 12. The junior guard had a career-high 34-point outing against Stetson on Nov. 26. It was the first 30-point outing of his career and the fourth 20+ point performance of the season, bringing his career tally to 10. He registered six 20-point outings in 62 career games with Ball State and has four in just six contests with the Black and Gold. The 34 points scored against Stetson were the most by a Knight since Brandon Mahan filled up the basket with 32 points against No. 15 Florida State on Dec. 19, 2020. Since then, only C.J. Kelly (Jan. 4, 2023 at ECU) and Ithiel Horton (Jan. 11, 2023 vs. Memphis) had reached the 30-point threshold, accomplishing exactly 30 one time each last season. Sellers’ efforts against Charlotte and Stetson earned him a nod as the Big 12 Conference’s Co-Newcomer of the Week. He averaged 26.5 points, pulling in 7.0 rebounds and shooting 59.4% from the field and 46.2% from the three-point arc. Sellers has scored 15 points or more in each of UCF’s first seven games. The last UCF newcomer to score double digits in their first seven 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. Dawkins later went on to record a career-high 36 points in the final game of the regular season at Temple on Mar. 9, 2019.
ABOUT THE MATCHUP
- The Knights lead the all-time series against Jacksonville by a count of 13-12. UCF has won the last two meetings as well as winning seven of the last nine. This will be just the third meeting between the two sides in the last 10 years.
- The last meeting between the two sides was Nov. 16, 2021, a 63-54 Knights victory.
- UCF and Jacksonville were conference mates in the Atlantic Sun Conference from 1998-2005.
JACKSONVILLE NOTES
- Jacksonville swept its two-game season series with Georgia Southern, winning in dramatic fashion in Statesboro on Saturday. Robert McCray V scored the final 10 points and 32 points overall to lead the Dolphins to victory. Jacksonville won for the first time this year when making fewer three-pointers than its opposition and also committed a season-low 10 turnovers. The Dolphins improved to 4-0 when leading at the half and a perfect 6-0 when leading with five minutes to play, are 2-0 in games decided by five points or less and now have three wins away from home. McCray was the star, scoring 32 on an effiecient 11-15 shooting, making 4-5 three-pointers. Bryce Workman and Jarius Cook added 11 points, while Marcus Niblack dished out nine assists.
- Robert McCray V was named Atlantic Sun Newcomer of the Week for the second straight week. McCray was the first Dolphin to score over 30 in a game since Bryce Workman had 33 @ Stetson on Feb. 20, 2021. His alley-oop slam with eight seconds remaining at Georgia Southern was the first game-winning shot with under 10 seconds to play since Kevion Nolan’s GW quarter-court three-pointer at the buzzer vs. FGCU on Jan. 8, 2022.
- The Dolphins are 28-2 under Head Coach Jordan Mincy when holding opponents under 60 points.
- Jacksonville posted its best November record since winning five games in 2016-17.
- The Dolphins are on thier first four-game win streak since winning five in a row from Feb. 9-Feb. 23 in 2022.