LAWRENCE, Kan. – The UCF men’s basketball team set out to do something on Tuesday night that hadn’t happened in over 30 years. The Knights were looking to hand No. 11 Kansas back-to-back losses in Allen Fieldhouse for the first time since the 1988-89 season. In their debut at the historic venue, the Black and Gold pressed the Jayhawks for all 40 minutes, leading for more than half the contest, but ultimately falling 91-87.
“I thought we gave a winning effort. It was a great environment. Our team is here for the first time experiencing it, and I thought they came ready to compete. It ended up being a great basketball game, unfortunately, we came out on the short end.”
Johnny DawkinsUCF Men's Basketball Head CoachThe energy of Allen Fieldhouse seemed to possess the basketball in the first six minutes of action, as both sides found shot after shot end in swishes. Kansas started 8-for-12 from the field to take a 21-18 lead at the first media timeout, as UCF hung tough with the four-time national champions, going 7-12 early. Darius Johnson and Keyshawn Hall were sharp early, each hitting a pair of threes in the game’s opening moments.
Johnson made a free throw to pull UCF within two before nailing his third three-pointer of the game, this time off a Benny Williams steal and assist from Jordan Ivy-Curry to take a 22-21 lead. The Knights played with the lead for the next few minutes, going up four twice during the run, with the three-point tally now at seven, tying the most in a first half this season halfway through the opening frame.
The media timeout at 6:30 remaining in the first half saw UCF down 32-30 with the Jayhawks shooting 61.1% to the Knights’ 37% at the time. However, the Knights had forced seven turnovers, including two from Johnson, placing him alone in second place on UCF’s all-time steals list. He finished the night with four steals, giving him 208 in his career, now behind only Jerry Prather who is UCF’s all-time leader with 290 steals. Johnson later reached another milestone, hitting the 400-assist mark and jumped to third all-time on UCF’s career list.
Johnson, who already had 13 points at this point on Tuesday, saw Hall tie things at 32 with an assist from Ivy-Curry before Ivy-Curry earned two fastbreak points to give the Knights the narrow lead. The Black and Gold surrendered the lead just once down the stretch of the first half, taking a 43-41 lead into the locker room. It was the third time this season that Kansas had trailed at home, the other two instances being against West Virginia and Arizona State.
Both Johnson and Hall had four made three-pointers at the break, leading the charge from behind the arc for nine UCF made threes in the first. The Knights forced 10 Kansas turnovers, turning those into nine points as opposed to three UCF turnovers that turned into four Jayhawk points. Kansas made just one of their final 10 field goals heading into the break. The Knights had nine steals in the first half, the most since last season against Ole Miss on Dec. 10.
UCF led for almost the first 12 minutes of the first half, building its biggest lead of the game at 56-47 with 16:50 left in the game. Moustapha Thiam got things going with a jumper before Johnson cashed in on his fifth triple of the game, his third time accomplishing the feat this season. Ivy-Curry was on point from deep just after Johnson, burying his fifth of the game to put UCF up eight. After a pair of Kansas free throws, Ivy-Curry answered again with a layup. Another Jayhawk two was answered with another clutch make by Thiam, building UCF’s nine-point lead.
An errant UCF alley-oop pass led to a three pointer for Kansas at the other end, slicing UCF’s lead to three at 56-53. The Knights were able to build the lead back up to eight at 63-55 with 13:08 to play with four Hall free throws and a Dallan ‘Deebo’ Coleman three.
A putback dunk by Thiam gave energy to a UCF team that saw the Jayhawks inching closer again, going up 67-64 with 10 minutes left. Kansas struck shortly after, piecing together a 7-0 run over the next 2:12, taking a 71-67 lead with 7:32 to play. Four more Hall made free throws thanks to two drives to the lane with fouls erased the Jayhawk edge, knotting the contest at 71. Kansas took a brief lead with two points at the 5:52 mark, only to see Hall answer with a three to take the lead right back seconds later.
Hall’s three-point make to put the Knights up 74-73 was UCF’s final lead of the night. The next almost three minutes remained tight, as Kansas was unable to pull away by any more than three. The Black and Gold erased tied Kansas three times in that stretch, with Hall and Thiam keeping UCF on the board and in the ballgame.
A made three-pointer pushed Kansas’ lead to five with 2:56 to play. UCF refused to quit despite the ever-growing intensity of the Kansas faithful. Thiam hit a deep jumper before Hall drove the paint and scored on and converted on an and-one situation, tying things at 84 with 1:55 to play.
Three of four makes from the charity stripe by the Jayhawks’ Hunter Dickinson gave Kansas the three point edge with 55 ticks remaining. Johnson responded a the other end with grit in the paint, missing two tough shots at the rim but cashing in on the third, putting UCF behind by one with 36 seconds left.
The Knights got the stop they needed, forcing a KJ Adams turnaround jumper to go errant. Hall crashed through the paint toward the rim, drawing contact but not a foul as the ball went bounding away. Kansas corralled the ball and UCF was forced to foul, which added two points at the other end after free throws. With four ticks left, Johnson took the ball up court and looked as if he was attempting to pull up for a deep, game-tying three pointer. Contact was made with Johnson’s arms, but it was determined after review that the foul didn’t occur in the act of shooting. With UCF in the double bonus, Johnson went to the line for two free throws instead of getting another shot at three from the floor. The first one didn’t go, but the second did. Another foul in an attempt to get the ball back ended with two more makes and a four point and final advantage for Kansas 91-87.
“Our guys kept fighting through, we didn’t want to make any excuses. We wanted to come in and keep battling, we knew it would be a challenge. Our guys were very competitive, we just didn’t make the plays we had to make. We have to make those plays through contact.”
Johnny DawkinsUCF Men's Basketball Head CoachUCF hit a season-high 14 three-pointers which also tied the most they had made against a Big 12 Conference opponent since joining the league, making 14 at home against Baylor last season.
Hall ended the night with 34 points while adding seven rebounds and three assists. It was the ninth time this season and 19th time in his career scoring 20 or more points and second time this season and third of his career scoring 30 or more. The five made triples was a career high. Johnson also finished with five threes, meaning it was the first time since Feb. 3, 2022 against South Florida that two Knights had five threes in a game when Darius Perry and Darin Green Jr. did it.
Kansas improved to 4-1 this season after a loss and 126-21 in the Bill Self era.