Men's Basketball Surges Past Tarleton State, 66-51Men's Basketball Surges Past Tarleton State, 66-51

Men's Basketball Surges Past Tarleton State, 66-51

by Ryan Ladika
Box Score

ORLANDO – Led by a second-half offensive surge and a stifling defensive effort throughout the contest, the UCF men’s basketball team notched its seventh victory of the winter campaign with its 66-51 win over Tarleton State at Addition Financial Arena Sunday afternoon.

“We knew it would be a very competitive game defensively,” said head coach Johnny Dawkins. “They’re one of the best teams in the country at forcing turnovers. I give our guys a lot of credit. We built a lead, and they did a good job of continuing to play hard and make plays.”

The winning effort pushed UCF’s (7-2) record to a season high five games north of .500 with two tilts remaining in its non-conference slate and extended the Knights’ regular-season non-conference home win streak to 10 consecutive games dating back to their three 2023-24 victories over Maine (Dec. 18), Florida A&M (Dec. 21) and Bethune-Cookman (Dec. 29).

Against the Texans (3-8) Sunday, UCF yielded a season low 51 points, besting its previous season low of 59 against California Baptist Dec. 1, and forced a season high 23 Tarleton State turnovers, its highest single-game total since forcing 26 against Bethune-Cookman Dec. 29, 2023.

“The lesson we’re learning is you’re going to have to win defensively. There are going to be nights when the shots aren’t falling. Fortunately, the majority of these nights, we’ve been able to find ways to win, and we haven’t really shot our best. You still have to find a way to win.”

Johnny DawkinsHead coach

In the absence of early offensive momentum, the Black and Gold stepped up on the defensive end of the floor amid the early portion of the afternoon’s affairs. Though the squad managed just two Moustapha Thiam field goals to accompany five free throws through the 7:38 media timeout, UCF limited the Texans to 12 points of their own in that span.

With his squad trailing 15-11 with 6:38 to play in the first half, a pair of Benny Williams free throws aided his team’s offensive scheme in catching up to its defensive efforts.

Darius Johnson drilled his first two 3-point shots of the contest around field goals by Williams and Dior Johnson, and JJ Taylor followed with UCF’s third triple in the two-and-a-half-minute span.

Two more makes from the line by Thiam within the final two minutes helped balloon UCF’s advantage to 29-21 entering the halftime break.

“We want to be better at what we do. A large part of it right now for us is also that the last time we played was last Sunday. Our guys hadn’t played a game with finals and everything going on for a week, and sometimes you can get a little bit out of sync. It will be important to get some more continuity so that we can get some more consistency.”

Johnny DawkinsHead coach

Keyshawn Hall and Jordan Ivy-Curry ensured UCF’s offense carried quickly over to the second half, opening the final 20 minutes with back-to-back 3-point shots that pushed the Black and Gold’s lead to 35-23. Dallan ‘Deebo’ Coleman then added five unanswered points followed by two more Hall free throws, and UCF owned its largest advantage of the game, 42-26, with 15:26 to play.

After the Texans fought their way back into the contest with a 12-0 run, Ivy-Curry took up his mantle as the team’s leading scorer to help widen the margin once more. He followed points from Thiam, Coleman, Hall and Darius Johnson with his second make from beyond the arc, and quickly added his third and fourth in the midst of a personal 8-0 stretch.

The fifth-year transfer, who entered the evening representing UCF’s leading scorer with an average of 16.0 points per game, matched his season total with a game-high 16 Sunday, on the strength of 40 percent shooting (4-for-10) from beyond the arc, also marking his ninth straight game in double figures.

Thiam also produced a standout defensive showing, as his six blocks matched his previous season high set during UCF’s season-opening 64-61 victory over then-No. 13 Texas A&M, a mark that represents a single-game Big 12 Conference high this winter. The freshman narrowly missed notching his first collegiate double-double with a season high nine rebounds as well.

UP NEXT

UCF faces another road test in the penultimate game of its 2024 non-conference slate, when it will square off against the Tulsa Golden Hurricane in the Autonation Orange Bowl Basketball Classic in Sunrise, Fla. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. from Amerant Bank Arena and will be broadcast on ESPNU.

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