Men's Hoops Visits Arizona State For Late Tuesday Tip

ORLANDO – The UCF men's basketball team looks to bounce back as it wraps up its westward swing at Arizona State Tuesday night.

GAME INFORMATION
Date: Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025
Time: 11 p.m. ET
Location: Desert Financial Arena; Tempe, Ariz.
TV: ESPNU
Talent: Pete Sousa (PxP), Corey Williams (Analyst)
Radio: FM 96.9/AM 740 The Game
Talent: Marc Daniels (PxP)

KNIGHT NOTES

• UCF’s win over Colorado was the first of three consecutive meetings against Big 12 Conference newcomers. Following the home victory, the Knights fell to Arizona on the road and will face Arizona State Jan. 14 as the third straight newcomer. Colorado is the lone newcomer that UCF will face twice during the conference slate and one of two the Knights draw at home. Utah, the fourth addition to the Big 12 this summer, will pay its first trip to Addition Financial Arena on Feb. 23.
• The Black and Gold fought for 40 minutes at Arizona, but ultimately fell by eight despite leading in multiple stat categories. The Wildcats entered the contest as one of the nation’s best rebounding teams, sitting 13th in the country. The Knights outrebounded Arizona by seven boards in the first half and finished with a 42-41 edge on the glass. The Black and Gold took care of the ball, turning the ball over just nine times to Arizona’s 14. UCF also held advantages in points off turnovers (18-9), points in the paint (36-32), second chance points (23-12) and fast break points (13-8). While the Knights never led and at one point were down by 17 points in Saturday’s road test, the Black and Gold were never out of it.
• The Knights enter their contest with Arizona State with a 1-1 record against this year’s group of newcomers after going 0-6 in the 2023-24 regular season plus a Big 12 tournament loss to BYU. UCF earned all seven of its conference victories against Big 12 legacy teams last season.
• Tuesday’s contest against Arizona State will be the first against the Sun Devils in program history. Coach Dawkins, who was a head coach at Stanford in the Pac-12 with Arizona State is 11-8 against the Sun Devils.
• The Knights haven’t played back-to-back games this far west since the 2019-20 season when they took part in the Wooden Legacy in Anaheim. UCF fell by one to Pennsylvania in the opening game of the tournament before earning consecutive wins against Pepperdine and Charleston. It’s the furthest west UCF has been for a single game since their 2023 NIT game at Oregon.
  1 UCF’s inaugural meeting with Arizona and Arizona State won’t be their first games in the state. The Knights played in Arizona’s McKale Center on Dec. 19 and 21, 2005 in the Fiesta Bowl Classic. UCF lost to both Western Kentucky and Sam Houston State, and were the last time prior to this season the Black and Gold played in the state of Arizona.
• The Knights are one of five teams in the Power 4 and Big East to have three 14.5+ points per game scorers this season; they’re joined by Texas Tech, Notre Dame, Iowa and Creighton. The trio of Keyshawn Hall (16.1), Darius Johnson (14.9) and Jordan Ivy-Curry (14.7) combine for 58.1% of UCF’s points, accounting for an average of 45.7 PPG of UCF’s average of 78.6. All three are in the top 12 of the Big 12 in scoring.
• Six of UCF’s first seven games in Big 12 play are quad one contests acording to the NCAA NET rankings. The Knights earned a quad one win over Texas Tech, who were recieving votes in both the AP and coaches polls, to open league play but fell in its second and third against No. 7 Kansas and Arizona. The win over the Red Raiders gave UCF two quad one victories on the 2024-25 campaign, adding to an opening night victory against No. 13/15 Texas A&M in Orlando.
• Following UCF’s 75-74 win over Colorado and loss to Arizona, the Knights have three straight quad one games left in the first seven gmaes of league play. Out of UCF’s first 13 Big 12 contests, nine of them present quad one opportunities.

• Freshman Moustapha Thiam has been making a big impact over UCF’s last eight games, averaging 9.1 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.0 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. He has five 10+ point games over the last eight.
• Keyshawn Hall now has six 20+ point games after his 22 at Arizona and scored double-digit points in all but two games this season. He has tallied two back-to-back 20+ point outings on the season and has a chance to do it again on Tuesday night. He scored 22 at Texas Tech (Dec. 31) and 21 vs. Jacksonville (Dec. 21) for the latest back-to-back 20+ point contests. Earlier in the year he posted 26 against Florida Atlantic (Nov. 12) and 20 vs. Tennessee Tech (Nov. 19).

THE MATCHUP

• Tuesday's matchup will be the first time the two sides have met on the hardwood.