Hall Scores 40 in Late Knights Victory at Arizona State

TEMPE, Ariz. – In one of the best performances of the college basketball season, Keyshawn Hall powered the UCF men’s basketball team to a road victory over Arizona State 95-89. Hall posted a career-high 40 points, the third most in UCF’s Division-I history in a single game, and added seven rebounds, six assists and a steal. It was the most points scored by a Big 12 Conference player this season. He became the just 12th player to post 40 points against Arizona State, a program founded in 1911. The last Big 12 player to score 40 points in a conference game is now playing in the NBA; Cade Cunningham had 40 in 2020-21.

Hall’s historic outing led UCF to its third conference victory and third quad one victory in the NCAA NET, joining a road win against Texas Tech and the Knights’ opening night win against No. 13/15 Texas A&M.

Against a former Pac-12 program, the term “Pac-12 After Dark” was better suited for the Big 12 contest in Tempe Tuesday night, as an 11 p.m. ET/9 p.m. MT tipoff was the least wild part about UCF’s fifth conference game of the campaign which had plenty of story line

It was a special night for Hall from the jump, who appears to enjoy playing road Big 12 games. After starting seven-for-seven in a New Year’s Eve win over Texas Tech in Lubbock, the junior transfer started six-for-six from the field with four three-pointers in Tempe.

Hall’s magical night saw him with 29 points on the board with just two misses in the first 20 minutes of play, shooting 11-for-13 from the floor, four-of-five from deep and three-for-three from the charity stripe. The last UCF player to score 25 or more points in a half in the Knights’ Division-I era was Jermaine Taylor who had 26 points in the 2nd half of a Feb. 25, 2009 contest against Rice. Taylor finished with 45 that night and to this day remains the UCF alum with the most games played in the NBA. Taylor’s 45 remains the highest point total in any UCF D-I game and ranks fourth all-time.

Arizona State’s freshman phenom Jayden Quaintance opened the scoring of UCF’s inaugural meeting with the Sun Devils. The 6-9 Cleveland, Ohio native was expected to match up with UCF’s 7-2 center Moustapha Thiam in the ballgame, but Thiam didn’t suit up due to an illness.

Hall, also a Cleveland native, started the scoring for UCF immediately following the Quaintance make. Darius Johnson netted the next bucket, a triple to make it 5-2. From that point on, it was Hall’s world, and everyone else was just living in it. Hall made UCF’s next three baskets, starting UCF five-for-five from the floor with a 12-7 lead. Hall’s hot stretch continued, making back-to-back triples to put UCF up 18-12. Hall’s first miss was amongst a run of three-straight errant shots for the Black and Gold. It ended Hall’s five-for-five start, including four-for-four from three-point range just over six minutes into the game. He picked up right where he left off though, banging home a triple 12:33 into the first to break an 18-18 tie.

Jordan Ivy-Curry was the first Knight with a last name other than Hall or Johnson to score, earning two points with 7:43 left in the first to put UCF up by five at 31-26. Dallan ‘Deebo’ Coleman piled on a three after grabbing an offensive board the next trip down the floor to put the Black and Gold up eight, forcing Arizona State to burn a timeout.

Both teams shot 50% or better at halftime with a 49-47 UCF lead up on the scoreboard. Arizona State held a lead for just 2:30 of the first half, the bulk of it down the stretch of the half. The Sun Devils got up by four at 47-43 but didn’t score again in the final 1:40 as JJ Taylor had four points to even the scoring before Mikey Williams hit a pair of free throws with 10 ticks left in the opening frame.

A handful of Knights were in foul trouble halfway through the game. Benny Williams picked up three fouls in 6:36 on the floor while Hall, Coleman and Rokas Jocius each picked up a pair. Hall sat for just 11 seconds in the first.

Ivy-Curry got the Black and Gold bouncing out of halftime, nailing a three-pointer on the opening possession of the second. A pair of Quaintance free throws brought the deficit back to four for Arizona State.

UCF opted to spend a timeout following the Sun Devils’ trip to the line, and it led to UCF’s biggest lead of the contest. Hall converted on a pair of freebies before Arizona State answered with a three, making it 54-51. From there, UCF kept connecting. Ivy-Curry buried another triple and then forced a steal. He missed the shot on the ensuing possession as Hall collected the board and found Coleman for his second three-pointer of the game. Arizona State opted for a timeout, but it didn’t slow the Knights down one bit. Coleman snatched a steal on the Sun Devils’ possession out of the 30-second timeout which eventually led to a dunk from Jocius to put UCF up 11 at 62-51. Two Arizona State free throws were answered by another Johnson three ball, making it 65-53 for the Black and Gold.

Arizona State was able to make a short 7-0 run to cut the UCF deficit to five at 65-60 with 14:26 left to play. During that run, Hall was whistled for his fourth foul after a review. On a drive to the basket, he was called for a flagrant, sending him to the bench with 15:13 to play. JJ subbed in for him and played some quality minutes off the bench throughout. He went on to score 14 points, a career-high while hauling in nine rebounds, tying a career best.

Benny Williams had a pair of slams with assists from Johnson and JJ, pushing the lead back to nine at 69-60. However, Arizona State answered with its largest run of the game, an 11-0 stretch that put them in front 71-69 with 10:05 remaining. JJ answered with a triple to put UCF back in front, only to be answered by a pair of free throws at the other end. UCF never let the Sun Devil lead get any bigger than four during a seesaw battle for the lead which continued all the way until there were just under three minutes to play.

Hall earned a pair of second chance points at the 4:53 mark, drawing a foul in the process and converting on the free throw to give him 34 points and UCF an 82-80 edge. Arizona State’s Quaintance answered with a pair of second chance points of his own. Johnson drove to the lane for a tough two before Quaintance did the same in what was a 20-point game for him. The 84-84 score was the last time the two teams were even as Johnson earned another gritty pair of points and added one on the and-one call.

Arizona State answered with two the next trip down the floor, only to be answered with another pair from Hall, giving him 36 and UCF a three-point edge with 86 seconds to play. The Sun Devils drew up a miss following a timeout as JJ pulled down the rebound, making way for Johnson to head to the free throw line. Facing the “Curtain of Distraction,” Johnson hit the first but missed the second from the charity stripe, putting UCF up 90-86 with 39 ticks remaining.

Johnson stayed clutch in the waning moments of the tilt, hustling for a defensive board off Arizona State’s miss and making his way back to the line. He again hit one of two free throws, going up five with 22 seconds left.

Arizona State turned the ball over on a bad pass with 19 seconds left before fouling Hall with 14 ticks remaining, He buried his 37th and 38th points of the night to put UCF up seven. The Sun Devils tried to make it interesting, burying a three-pointer with 8.7 seconds on the clock. The ball was inbounded and eventually found the hands of Hall who was fouled with 1.6 ticks on the board. He cashed in on both from the stripe, finishing the night 10-for-10 at the free throw line, cementing himself in the record books while closing the book on Arizona State 95-89.

Hall’s perfect 10 free throws were joined by a 13-for-18 mark from the field and four-of-six from beyond the arc with seven rebounds, six assists, a steal and seven fouls drawn. Hall now boasts back-to-back 20+ point games for the third time this season and has seven total game with 20 or more. It was his second 30+ point game of his career which was his previous career-best of 36 points against Bridgewater (Va.) on Dec. 19, 2023 while with George Mason. Hall’s total on the night was three points from being the most scored by an opposing player in Desert Financial Arena’s history and was seven away from topping Eddie House’s 46 against San Diego State on Dec. 18, 1999 as the most in the building’s history.

The Knights were able to navigate their way around foul trouble as six members of the Black and Gold finished the game with three or more fouls, but none picked up the dreaded fifth.

Along with Hall and JJ, Johnson also finished in double digits, earning 17 points with seven assists and two steals.

Both sides finished shooting better than 50% on the evening as UCF shot 50.8%, its fourth time shooting north of 50% from the field this season and second in Big 12 play. UCF also buried 12 threes, shooting 46.2% from deep. That was the seventh time this season the Knights have buried 10 or more threes and the fourth time in the last six contests. The Black and Gold hit 10 or more triples just twice last season.

The victory was the first in UCF’s history in the state of Arizona after coming up empty on its previous three contests, two of them at the Fiesta Bowl Classic in Dec. 2005 and the other earlier this week at Arizona. All three contests were at the McKale Center in Tucson, Ariz.

UCF is a quarter of the way through its conference slate and just over halfway through the regular season as a whole with 15 conference games remaining. Taking the first-half performance and comparing it to some end of season numbers from years past, at 17.6 points per game, Hall would be the highest scorer UCF has had since Jermaine Taylor’s 26.2 in 2008-09. Johnson’s 41.7% from deep would be the highest since Brandon Mahan shot 43.8% from beyond.

UP NEXT
The Knights return home to a familiar foe, hosting No. 10/8 Houston for UCF’s annual Space Game. The Black and Gold will transform to Black and Canaveral Blue for a noon tip on Saturday on CBS Sports Network, UCF’s third straight nationally televised game.

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