Men's Hoops Seeking 7th Straight Home Win, Host Tarleton State Sunday

ORLANDO – The UCF men’s basketball team is set for the second game of its three-game homestand, hosting California Baptist for a 4 p.m. tipoff on Sunday.

GAME INFORMATION
Date: Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024
Time: 1 p.m. ET
Location: Addition Financial Arena; Orlando, Fla.
TV: ESPN+
Talent: Austin Lyon (PxP), BJ 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 has done it all early in the campaign, putting pressure on offensive and defensive records in doing so. Johnson has climbed into the top-five of UCF’s assists and steals career leaderboard, sitting fifth and third, respectively. He is fresh off a performance in which he snatched seven steals against California Baptist (Dec. 1), tying a career-high and tying the most by any NCAA D-I player this season. It was four steals short of tying the program record and stands in a tie for seventh in a single UCF game. Last season, Johnson finished last season 18th in the nation and second in the Big 12 in steals p/gm at 2.21 p/gm and is averaging 3.13 so far this season, good enough to rank fourth in the nation.
• UCF's defense turned in its best perfromance last time out. UCF held an opponent to under 60 for the first time this season, limiting California Baptist to 59 points. The Knights held the Lancers to the lowest field goal percentage by an opponent this season at 35.1%. UCF also held California Baptist to the lowest made and attempted three-pointers, assists, second half points and fast break points this season. California Baptist entered the contest turning the ball over the fourth-fewest amount of times in the nation. UCF proceeded to turn over the Lancers 19 times, a season-high for both sides. Additionally, the Knights posted their largest margin of victory on the season. The Knights have snatched double-digit steals in two of their last three contests (15 vs. LSU; 19 vs. California Baptist). Four Knights finished with double digit points against California Baptist; leading the way was Keyshawn Hall with 15 points, followed by Johnson and Moustapha Thiam with 11 and Jordan Ivy-Curry with 10.
• UCF is an impressive 75-9 when holding opponents to 60 points or less since Dawkins’ arrival to start 2016-17. The Knights have posted an 93-18 record under Dawkins when holding an opponent under 40% shooting from the field. When holding a team to 33.3% or less, UCF is 37-2 under Dawkins. Furthermore, the Black and Gold are 15-1 when holding a team to under 30% from the field under their current head coach.
• The Knights are currently on a nine-game winning streak at home against non-conference foes in the regular season dating back to last season where UCF beat Maine, Florida A&M and Bethune-Cookman to wrap up the out-of-league slate. Currently, the Knights are on a six-game home winning-streak, tied for the fourth longest in the Dawkins era. The longest win streak under Dawkins is 10, set during the 2018-19 season. The Black and Gold will be searching for their 100th home win under Dawkins, going 99-35 to this point.
  
  THE MATCHUP
• The two programs have met just once on the hardwood as UCF took the 75-49 victory on Dec. 11, 2022.

SCOUTING TARLETON STATE

• Tarleton State is the second of two straight teams from the WAC on UCF’s schedule; they were picked to finish sixth in the league.
• The Texans took part in the Baha Mar Hoops Nassau Championship, earning a win against Hofstra while there. Most recently, Tarleton State topped Dallas Christian 90-50 on Tuesday.
• Bubu Benjamin leads the Texans in scoring, earning 17.6 points per contest. Also in double figures is Ronnie Harrison Jr. who has posted 11.6 points per game.
• Tarleton State ranks 13th in the country in turnovers forced per game, snagging 16.9 per contest.