Hall's Hot Start Energizes Men's Hoops to 27-Point Win Over TCU

ORLANDO – Energized by a 13-0 start, the UCF men’s basketball team led wire-to-wire in its biggest margin of victory of the season and over a Big 12 Conference foe in its time in the league, thumping TCU 85-58 Saturday night.

Fans were barely settled into their seats before the Knights built a double-digit lead, going up 13-0 just 2:22 into the contest. Keyshawn Hall was on point from the start, catching nothing but net from distance on UCF’s first shot of the game. The next two possessions saw Hall do the same thing, burying two more triples without a miss. UCF’s fourth time with the rock saw Hall drive and draw a foul, hitting his first free throw before missing the second, building a 10-0 lead for the Black and Gold. Darius Johnson swished in a three of his own to give UCF a 13-0 advantage, forcing a Horned Frogs timeout. The electric run was UCF’s biggest lead to start a game since a 21-0 start on the road at Ole Miss back on Dec. 14, 2022.

TCU sliced the Knights’ advantage to six points with 8:27 left in the first thanks to a quick 6-0 run. The Black and Gold bounced back in front by 17 thanks to a run of their own, scoring the next 11 points to lead 36-19. Johnson and Hall each made a pair of free throws while Dallan ‘Deebo’ Coleman earned a pair of second chance points to help build the run. Hall also added a dunk while Johnson buried his second three of the half.

While UCF tied a season-high in made threes in the first half with seven, TCU did the exact opposite, sinking no three-pointers in 12 attempts. The goose egg in the three-point column was the second time this season that UCF held an opponent without a triple in the first half, the other being Tarleton State on Dec. 8.

The Knights held a 37-23 advantage at the break. TCU’s 23 points was the lowest allowed by UCF against a Big 12 foe while being members of the league.

The Horned Frogs didn’t make their first three pointer of the contest until there was 15:30 left in the contest, ending an 0-for-15 drought from distance. The triple cut UCF’s lead to a dozen, and TCU followed it up with another basket to make it 40-30. As was the theme of the night though, anytime the Horned Frogs tried to dust themselves off and get back up, the Knights pushed them back down. The Black and Gold went on a blistering 25-8 run to jump out to a 27-point lead at 65-38 with 8:35 to play.

UCF’s lead never shrunk below 19 the rest of the way, paving the way for a smooth-sailing win to move the Black and Gold to 4-4 in conference play. Plenty of Knights left their mark all over the stat sheet; even fan favorite walk-on Poohpha Warakulnukroh registered a rebound and assist. After his supercharged start to the evening, Hall finished the contest with a game-high 26 points and eight rebounds. The performance was his eighth time this season and 18th occurrence in his career in which he scored 20 points or better.

UCF’s leading trio of Hall, Johnson and Jordan Ivy-Curry each had a trio of triples, accounting for nine of UCF’s 13 made three pointers. Ivy-Curry was held scoreless in the first half but came out strong in the final 20 minutes, compiling 14 points. Johnson wrapped the evening with 15 points and five assists, now just two assists away from sole possession of third on UCF’s career assists list.

Moustapha Thiam joined in the double-digit scoring with 16 points adding five blocks, five rebounds and two assists. Thiam got Knight Nation on their feet multiple times throughout the contest, skying high for multiple alley-oops on the offensive end and with another remarkable showing protecting the rim. The seven-foot-two freshman now boasts four contests with five or more blocked shots, outpacing UCF legend Tacko Fall for the Knights’ rookie block record. Fall had three games in which he had five or more blocks in his rookie season.

It was the seventh time this season that four or more Knights have scored double-digit points. The four members of the Black and Gold combined for 71 of UCF's 85 points on the evening.

TCU is the third team to fall victim to scoring less than 60 points against the Knights this season, joining California Baptist and Tarleton State. UCF is now 77-9 when holding an opponent to 60 points or less in the Dawkins era and are now 94-18 when limiting a foe to less than 40% from the field. TCU finished with a final three-point clip of five percent (1-for-20). The Knight narrowly missed allowing their fewest amount of points to a Big 12 team while being part of the league, allowing 57 at Houston last season. UCF did set a new best margin of victory against a Big 12 foe after shattering the 14-point win over Texas Tech at home last season.

The Black and Gold surrendered their second-fewest number of turnovers in the contest, coughing up the ball just seven times while earning 20 assists, tying a season-best.

UP NEXT
The Knights will add a new location to their travel binder, visiting Allen Fieldhouse for the first time in program history on Tuesday for an 8 p.m. ET tipoff on ESPN+. UCF will look to avenge a loss to then-No. 7 Kansas in the second game of league play. Now No. 12/11 in the polls, the Jayhawks suffered a double-overtime loss to No. 7 Houston Saturday night in Lawrence.

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