ORLANDO – In the midst of the euphoric chaos unfolding on the floor around him, senior guard Darius Johnson reflected on the job he and his team accomplished.
“It’s a great experience, but we’re supposed to get that win. We went into the game expecting to win, and nothing less.”
Johnson, in the first game of his fourth season donning the Black and Gold, took up his mantle as their leader, dropping a game-high 24 points to lead the UCF men’s basketball team to a statement 64-61 opening night upset victory over the No. 13 Texas A&M Aggies at Addition Financial Arena Monday evening.
The winning effort represented the 11th over a ranked opponent in program history, the fourth in the last two years, and the first in three tries in a season-opener.
In the current calendar year alone, the Knights have now toppled four top 25 opponents on their home floor, also besting then-No. 3 Kansas Jan. 10, then-No. 23 Oklahoma Feb. 3, and then-No. 23 Texas Tech Feb. 24. The contest also marked the ninth of UCF’s 11 all-time ranked wins to have been achieved under Dawkins.
UCF storms the court after stunning No. 13 Texas A&M‼️ pic.twitter.com/7zfvr5fJrb
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) November 5, 2024
A testament to head coach Johnny Dawkins, Monday evening’s feat, the first win by UCF in the first meeting between the two programs, was accomplished with just two returning players who played tonight from the 2023-24 campaign, Johnson and sophomore guard Nils Machowski.
“What an opening game, to play against a team with that type of experience and talent. I thought it was great for our team,” Dawkins said. “You bring in 11 new guys, you don’t know what to expect, and they showed me something today. They can play with composure and the moment wasn’t too big for them. They beat a really good, well-coached team.”
The Knights gained momentum early with a hot hand from beyond the arc and later iced the game from the free throw line.
Staring up at a 10-point deficit for the fourth time, UCF, having made just five field goals through the first 10:58 of the second half, made the adjustment against a staunch Aggies defense that led the SEC in rebounding and ranked fifth in scoring defense last season.
The Black and Gold forced 17 free throw attempts through the game’s final six minutes and 51 seconds, converting 13 to help erase a 54-44 Aggies advantage and end the contest with eight unanswered points. Two key blocks by sophomore JJ Taylor on the defensive end, both coming in the final two minutes, were not lost on Johnson as crucial moments in halting any late Texas A&M momentum.
“JJ, he made a lot of great plays down the stretch, defensively and offensively,” Johnson continued. “He had a great offensive rebound to put us up one, which was a huge play down the stretch. As leaders and older guys on the team, we’ve been pushing JJ to get more out of him, and he’s been doing a great job with that. He came out and showcased his abilities tonight.”
A shaky start that saw the Knights fail on each of their first eight tries from the field was quickly shoved aside with an emphatic dunk by junior transfer Keyshawn Hall, giving UCF its first two points of the season while trimming the Aggies’ lead to 6-2 just under five minutes in.
Taylor opened the floodgates moments later, drilling his team’s first 3-point shot of the night to ignite a stretch that saw him score seven on the strength of four consecutive made tries from the line.
Johnson, on the heels of his single-season career best 15.2 points per game a year ago, connected on his first two tries from beyond the arc around a converted Jordan Ivy-Curry 3-point try, slimming Texas A&M’s lead to 23-18 with 8:03 on the first-half clock.
Ivy-Curry then followed an Aggies dunk with four more points of his own to keep his team close, then joined Johnson in making consecutive triples to help the Knights to a 29-29 tie at halftime.
“They have a lot of character,” Dawkins said. “We worked out this summer and fall, and what I saw are guys who love to compete and love to win. We’re playing against each other in practice, it’s very competitive, and that’s how you get better. They did a good job understanding what they need to do to work their way back in the game.”
Johnson added two more 3-point shots in the early stages of the second half before the Aggies built their lead back up to double figures, coming one triple shy of tying his single-game career high of six he set against the BYU Cougars March 13, 2024.
Having entered the season just 58 points shy of 1,000 in his career, the veteran guard also now needs just 34 more to become the 21st Knight in program history to reach the plateau, and join Ivy-Curry and Jaylin Sellers as the third Knight on the active roster with a 1,000-point resume.
In their respective UCF debuts, Ivy-Curry (16), Taylor (10) and Hall (10) joined Johnson in double-digit scoring, while freshman Moustapha Thiam, the first five-star recruit and the highest-ranked recruit in program history, made his seven-foot, two-inch frame felt with six blocks, finishing two shy of the program’s single-game record.
“This is a statement game,” Johnson continued. “Moving forward we want to make people respect us.”
BIG MOOD pic.twitter.com/V8KcBn9yAS
— UCF Men’s Hoops 🌴 (@UCF_MBB) November 5, 2024
UP NEXT
UCF will look to continue the momentum accrued from its prolific victory, hosting Purdue Fort Wayne in its next contest Friday, Nov. 8. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. from Addition Financial Arena and will be streamed on ESPN+.
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