Men's Hoops Opens Big 12 Play with Road Tilt at Texas Tech

ORLANDO – The UCF men’s basketball team is set for its second season of Big 12 Conference play as the Knights visit Texas Tech in Lubbock for a 2 p.m. ET tipoff on New Years Eve.

GAME INFORMATION
Date: Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2024
Time: 2 p.m. ET/1 p.m. CT
Location: United Supermarkets Arena; Lubbock, Texas
TV: ESPN+
Talent: Ted Emrich (PxP), Scott Williams (Analyst)
Radio: FM 96.9/AM 740 The Game
Talent: Marc Daniels (PxP)

KNIGHT NOTES

• UCF is set for its second season of Big 12 Conference play, opening on the road at Texas Tech before hosting Kansas Jan. 5 and Colorado Jan. 8. The Knights earned seven victories in last year’s league slate, earning all seven wins against legacy Big 12 members, including its largest margin of victory in its inaugural conference schedule in a 75-61 win over Texas Tech on Feb. 24. The Black and Gold won three of its final five league games to wrap up the 2023-24 regular season, including two straight road wins, beating Oklahoma State and TCU. Darius Johnson led UCF in scoring during last season’s conference slate with 15.1 points per game, followed by Jaylin Sellers with 14.2.
• The Knights finished their nonconference slate with a 9-2 record, the second best mark by winning percentage in the out-of-conference schedule under Dawkins at .818, second to the 10-2 non-league schedule during the 2018-19 season that saw the Knights make a run to the NCAA Tournament and earn the first March Madness victory in program history. UCF went a perfect 8-0 at home in this year’s non-conference slate, the first time going perfect since 2011-12. The Knights have won at least eight non-conference games in each full season under Dawkins (omitting 2-1 record in COVID affected 2020-21 season) and have won nine non-conference games for the seventh time under him. The Knights got out to a 4-0 start this season, tying the best start during the Dawkins era. The 2017-18 and 2021-22 campaigns also saw 4-0 starts. The trio of 4-0 starts all have something in common in the fact the Knights beat at least one Power Four team in those stretches, and each campaign ended with at least 18 victories. The 2024-25 start is the only one of the three that includes a ranked victory, thanks to the 64-61 victory over No. 13 Texas A&M.
• The Knights wrapped up their out-of-league slate with their biggest margin of victory of the season, topping Jacksonville 86-66 to earn the ninth win of the season. UCF’s field goal and three-point percentages in the game were among some of the best the team has posted under head coach Johnny Dawkins. UCF’s 58.7 overall field goal percentage marked its best in a single game since its mark of 60.4 against Temple Jan. 2, 2019, and the squad’s 58.8 success rate from beyond the arc (10-for-17) marked its highest since it nailed 12 triples (12-for-20, 60%) against Michigan Dec. 30, 2021. UCF’s effort against Jacksonville marked its fourth game with at least 10 3-point field goals this season, joining its contests against Florida Atlantic Nov. 12 (13), LSU Nov. 24 (10) and Milwaukee Nov. 27 (11).
• Senior Jaylin Sellers made his return to the floor in UCF’s final nonconference game of the season after going down in the preseason with an injury, causing him to miss UCF’s first 10 games of the 2024-25 campaign. Sellers wasted no time reminding the crowd of his style of play, catching an alley-oop and slamming it down for his first points of the season. He finished the contest with 12:16 of game action, scoring seven points while tallying an assist. Sellers earned an All-Big 12 Honorable Mention nod at the end of last season while leading the Knights in scoring at 15.9 PPG.
• Despite allowing 81.2 points per game on defense over the first six games of the season, the Knights have held their last five opponents to an average of 65.4 points, including two sub-60 performances against California Baptist (59) and Tarleton St. (51). UCF has forced 17.0 turnovers per game over the last five contests compared to 13.0 over the first six. The Knights have forced double-digit turnovers in each game this season but have generated 15 or more in four of the last five games, including a season-high 23 against Tarleton State on Dec. 8.
• Freshman Moustapha Thiam has made a major impact over UCF’s last four games, averaging 11.3 points, 7.3 rebounds and 4.3 blocks per game. He recorded six blocks against Tarleton State on Dec. 8 before rejecting another five shot attempts while scoring a season-high 14 points vs. Tulsa in the Orange Bowl Classic on Dec. 14. It was his third 5+ block performance of the season after blocking six shots against No. 13/15 Texas A&M on opening night. The freshman is pacing nicely with UCF legend Tacko Fall who posted 70 blocks in his rookie season, a Knights freshman record. Through 11 contests of the 2015-16 season, Fall had 27 blocks while Thiam currently sits at 28 through the first 11 of the current campaign. Fall had one six-block game during that stretch. Taylor Hendricks, UCF’s first lottery and first round pick in program history, had 59 in 2022-23, the second most by a UCF rookie. Hendricks had 18 blocks through 11 games.
• Jordan Ivy-Curry has scored double-digit points in every game thus far, including a season high 22 points against Florida Atlantic on Nov. 12. His 11 straight games with double digits to start his UCF career is just one shy of his teammate, Jaylin Sellers, who had 12 straight games with double-digit points last season to begin his Knights career. The last newcomer to top a dozen double-digit games at the start of their UCF career was Aubrey Dawkins who scored 10 or more points in 18 straight contests to begin his 2018-19 season, one that ended with the Knights in the NCAA Tournament.
• UCF is 42-12 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 December. The Black and Gold are 32-4 at home in December during Dawkins’ tenure. The Knights have averaged 72.7 points per game in December under Dawkins while holding foes to just 61.4 points per game, a double-digit margin of 11.3 points per contest.

THE MATCHUP

• UCF and Texas Tech met for the first time in program history last season. The two sides faced each other twice in the 2024 Big 12 slate, splitting the season series with each team defending home court.
• The Knights earned thier largest margin of victory in Big 12 play against Texas Tech, beating the Red Raiders 75-61 in Orlando on Feb. 24, 2024.
• Texas Tech won the inaugural meeting between the two sides, beating the Knights 66-59 on Feb. 10, 2024 in Lubbock.

SCOUTING TEXAS TECH

• Texas Tech, which completed its home non-conference schedule with an undefeated record for the fifth straight season, went 7-2 in conference home games last year and finished tied for third in the conference standings with an 11-7 record before making the program's 20th NCAA Tournament appearance.
• The Red Raiders are 8-0 on their home court this season after a 101-57 win over Lamar last week to complete non-conference play and enter Big 12 action leading the conference with a 60.0 effective field goal percentage, shooting 51.7 percent from the field, 79.4 percent at the free-throw line and a 23.0 scoring margin of victory. Tech is currently third in the nation in both shooting percentages and is 11th throughout the country by shooting 40.4 percent from 3-point range (111-for-275) after going 13-for-29 in the 44-point win over Lamar in its last game. The Red Raiders also went 16-for-18 at the free-throw line against Lamar and are now 150-for-189 from the charity stripe. The team is third in the Big 12 with 18.4 assists per game and scoring 86.3 points per game, while also ranking third defensively by limiting opponents to only 63.3 points per game.
• In its Big 12 opener last season, Texas Tech traveled to Austin and earned a 78-67 win over No. 20 Texas and is currently 12-16 in the first game Big 12 play.
• JT Toppin has been a star early in the season for the Red Raiders thus far, averaging 18.6 points and 11.0 rebounds per game thus far. However, he hasn't seen the floor since Nov. 29. Toppin leads a quartet of double-digit scorers for Texas Tech. Darrion Williams and Chance McMillian have started each game for the Red Raiders, averaging 16.5 and 16.4 points per game, respectively. Kevn Overton has seen action in every game on the campaign, scoring 11.4 points per contest.