Men's Hoops Returns Home to Host BYU

ORLANDO – The UCF men's basketball team is set to open a two-game homestand, hosting BYU Saturday, Feb. 1 for a 4 p.m. tipoff on ESPN+.

GAME INFORMATION
Date: Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025
Time: 4 p.m. ET
Location: Orlando, Fla.; Addition Financial Arena
TV: ESPN+
TV Talent: Drew Fellios (PxP), Sean Harrington (Analyst)
Radio: FM 96.9/AM 740 The Game
Tadio Talent: Marc Daniels (PxP), Taylor Young (Analyst)

KNIGHT NOTES

• The Knights suffered a close loss in their debut in Allen Fieldhouse, losing 91-87. UCF led for more than half the contest, but as the final buzzer sounded, Kansas avoided losing back-to-back home games for the first time since the 1988-89 season. UCF drained a season-high 14 threes, including five each from Keyshawn Hall and Darius Johnson. The Knights tied a season high in assists with 20, the third time this season and second straight game doing so.
• UCF has made 10 or more three-pointers in nine games so far this season, including seven times in the last 10 contests. The Knights hit 10 or more three pointers just twice last season. Additionally, UCF already has four games where they’ve shot 50% or better from the floor after doing that just four times in the previous campaign. After tying a season-high with 13 made threes against TCU, the Knights sunk a season-best 14 at #11 Kansas, tying the mark for most threes made against a Big 12 Conference foe in UCF’s time in the league. The Knights average 9.1 made three pointers per game, the highest number of made threes during Dawkins’ tenure, topping the previous best of 8.8 during the 2021-22 campaign. That has helped UCF to its highest scoring offense as well.
• The Knights are one of four teams in the Power 4 and Big East to have three 14.5+ points per game scorers this season; they’re joined by Creighton, Texas Tech and Notre Dame. The trio of Keyshawn Hall (18.0), Darius Johnson (14.7) and Jordan Ivy-Curry (14.5) combine for 59.1% of UCF’s points, accounting for an average of 47.2 PPG of UCF’s average of 79.9. The Knights go as their trio goes, with big differences in shooting percentages in wins vs. losses. Combined, the trio makes 10.2% more of their field goals and 4.9% more of their three-point attempts in games UCF wins.
  • In UCF Wins: Johnson: 44.8 FG%, 46.1 3PT%; Hall: 48.4 FG%, 43.5 3PT%; Ivy-Curry: 44.0 FG%, 34.9 3PT%
  • In UCF Losses: Johnson: 35.2 FG%, 37.8 3PT%; Hall: 36.2 FG%, 30.3 3PT%; Ivy-Curry: 35.4 FG%, 38.3 3PT%
• Over his last five games, Keyshawn Hall is averaging 23.8 points per game the most in the Big 12 and the fourth most across the Power 4 and Big East. Ahead of him are Cooper Flagg (27 PPG), Airious “Ace” Baily (25.8 PPG) and Dawson Garcia (24 PPG). He’s shooting 50.7% from the field and 59.1% from deep over the last five games, along with tallying 7.6 rebounds and 3.2 assists. Hall has three 25+ point showings during the stretch: 40 at Arizona State (Jan. 14), 26 vs. TCU (Jan. 25), 34 at #11 Kansas (Jan. 28)
• Hall enters Saturday’s contest with 938 career points, needing 62 points to reach 1,000 for his career. Hall has collected 360 points as a Knight while registering 481 with George Mason last season and 97 with UNLV before that. He would be the second Knight to accomplish the feat this season, as Darius Johnson hit 1,000 Nov. 19 vs. Tennesee Tech. Johnson became the 21st Knight to score all 1,000 points in a UCF uniform, becoming the first member of the Black and Gold to score all 1,000 with UCF since Tacko Fall did it in 2018-19. Darius’ dad Kelvin and brother Xavier both scored 1,000 points college. Xavier finished his five-year career with 1,452 points after three years with George Mason and two with Southern Ill. Kelvin finished with 1,400 in four years at Richmond. UCF currently boasts a trio of 1,000 point scorers: Darius Johnson Jordan Ivy-Curry and Jaylin Sellers. As of the start of Big 12 play, UCF is one of six Big 12 schools with a trio of 1,000+ point scorers. The other five schools in the Big 12 that meet the criteria are Arizona, Baylor, Kansas, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and West Virginia.
• Darius Johnson, who has been a Knight for four seasons, recently earned his 400th assist and 200th steal, making him one of three players in the Big 12 who boasted those numbers in their collegiate careers (at the time of DJ’s accomplisment). Johnson jumped into sole possession of third place on UCF’s career assists list while also sliding into second on UCF’s career steals list, accomplishing both in Allen Fieldhouse in the Knights’ four point loss to No. 11 Kansas on Jan. 28. (More on career ranking in record watch section on page nine.) Johnson is closing in on breaking his own UCF Division I record of steals in a season at 73, achieved last season. He ranks 11th in the nation, averaging 2.50 steals per game. The sinlge season UCF record is 110 by Jerry Prather in 1977-78. Johnson snatched a season-high seven steals against California Baptist (Dec. 1), which at the time was tied for the most in NCAA DI this seaon and tied a career-best for Johnson. He finished last season 18th nationally and second in the Big 12 in steals per game at 2.21. Johnson has been a marksman from deep this season, ranking 25th in the nation and second in the Big 12 in three-point percentage. He has hit 43% of his threes this season, improving on his 39.4% from last season, which was a 12.5% improvement over his sophomore season. The current campaign has seen him tally eight games with a trio of three-point makes, including three instances of five or more.

THE MATCHUP

• The Knights are searching for their first victory against BYU in program history after falling to them three times last season. UCF lost the two regular season games by a combined seven points before falling 87-73 in the second round at the Big 12 Championship.

SCOUTING BYU

• BYU has now won three straight Big 12 games for the first time following the Cougars 93-89 overtime victory over Baylor on Tuesday evening at the Marriott Center in front of 17,297 fans. In their second straight home win over the Bears, BYU shot 55.2 percent from the field, 38.1 percent from three and 80.8 percent from the free throw line as they picked up their first overtime victory of the season and first since Nov. 25, 2022 against Dayton at the Battle 4 Atlantis.
• With his aunt, Tamika Catchings, in attendance, Kanon Catchings had the best game of his young career as the freshman scored a career-high 23 points going 8-of-8 from the field, 4-of-4 from 3-point range and 3-of-3 from the free throw line. With that performance, Catchings became the first freshman this century to shoot 8-of-8 while also making four 3-pointers and three free throws.
• Egor Demin reached double figures for a second straight game as the 6-foot-9 guard finished with 15 points and six assists. Richie Saunders chipped in 17 points as the junior has now scored in double figures in six straight games.
• With its win over Baylor on Tuesday, BYU improved to 11-0 this season when shooting over 50.0 percent as the Cougars went 32-of-58 from the field en route to their second straight victory over the Bears. As of Thursday morning, BYU ranks first in the Big 12 and 12th nationally in effective field goal percentage, .573. The Cougars have won 24 straight games when shooting over 50.0 percent with the last loss coming at San Francisco on Jan. 21, 2023 in their final season as a member of the West Coast Conference.
• After dropping its first three games in January to No. 14 Houston, Texas Tech and TCU, BYU finished the month winning four its last five including three straight heading into Saturday’s showdown at UCF. All four of those wins have come with Mawot Mag in the starting lineup. During its current three-game win streak, BYU is outscoring opponents by 16 points per game while shooting 56.9 percent from the field, 49.3 percent from three and 76.9 percent from the free throw line. Five different players have connected on four or more 3-pointers including eight from Kanon Catchings and Richie Saunders.