Men's Hoops Hosts #7 Kansas Sunday to Open Big 12 Home Slate

ORLANDO – After beating Texas Tech 87-83 in Lubbock on Tuesday, the UCF men's basketball team returns to Orlando to host No. 7 Kansas in its 2025 Big 12 home opener on Sunday, Jan. 5 at 4 p.m.

GAME INFORMATION
Date: Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025
Time: 4 p.m. ET
Location: Addition Financial Arena; Orlando, Fla.
TV: ESPN+
Talent: Lowell Galindo (PxP), King McClure (Analyst)
Radio: FM 96.9/AM 740 The Game
Talent: Marc Daniels (PxP), Taylor Young (Analyst)

KNIGHT NOTES

• The Knights earned an 87-83 road victory at Texas Tech in their Big 12 opener thanks to a pair of 20+ point performances. Keyshawn Hall started the game going a perfrect 9-for-9 from the field and 4-for-4 from three-point range, including 7-for-7 in the first half with three triples, good enough for 17 points over the first 20 minutes. Darius Johnson had 17 points of his own in the second half, going 5-for-6 including 2-for-2 from deep to help UCF hold onto its advantage, which was as many as 18 points in the final frame. Johnson finished with 24 points while Hall tallied 22. UCF’s 87-point performance in its Big 12 opener was more points than it had scored in any Big 12 regular season win during the 2023-24 campaign and one shy of tying the most they had scored in any conference game last season. Dating back to last season, the Knights have won their last three Big 12 road games, beating Oklahoma State 77-71 on Feb. 28 and TCU  79-77 on March 9. UCF has also won four of their last six league games when couting the end of last regular season.
• UCF’s past two games have seen the team shoot better than 50%, recording a 51.8% clip from the field and 43.5% from long range at Texas Tech as well as a 58.7% mark from the field and 58.8% mark from deep against Jacksonville. UCF sunk 10 three-pointers at Texas Tech, its second consecutive game doing so and fifth total occurrence through 12 contests thus far. The Knights accomplished that feat just twice last season. Additionally, UCF already has three games where they’ve shot 50% or better from the floor after doing that just four times in the previous campaign. UCF’s 58.7% clip from the field against Jacksonville was its best in a game since its mark of 60.4 against Temple Jan. 2, 2019, and the squad’s 58.8 success rate from beyond the arc (10-for-17) marked its highest since it nailed 12 triples (12-for-20, 60%) against Michigan Dec. 30, 2021.
• For the second consecutive season and as many for UCF in the Big 12, the Knights opens its home slate against Kansas. UCF hosted the No. 3 Jayhwaks last season and host Kansas who is again a top 10 team at No. 7. Both Big 12 home openers come after a road game to begin league play. The Knights trailed by 16 to the Jayhawks in last season’s meeting but clawed back to win 65-60, eventually resulting in a court storming as the victory over No. 3 Kansas became UCF’s highest ranked opponent defeated in program history.
• The Knights are looking for a repeat of last season’s Big 12 home opener that saw the Black and Gold topple the No. 3 Jayhawks 65-60 on Jan. 10, 2024. UCF head coach Johnny Dawkins is a combined 6-0 in meetings against either Kansas or Bill Self, or a combination of both. Separately, he is 4-0 against Kansas in his career, with two wins as a player and two as a coach while also going 4-0 against Bill Self, with two wins as a head coach and two as an assistant. Dawkins is 2-0 as a head coach against Self at KU.
  • Dec. 1, 1985: Duke 92, Kansas 86 - While playing for Duke and Mike Krzyzewski (Coach K), Dawkins, in his senior year, helped lift the Blue Devils over the Jayhawks in the fifth game of the 1985-86 season, played in Madison Square Garden.
  • March 29, 1986: Duke 71, Kansas 67 - Dawkins leads all scorers with 24 points, shooting 11-for-17, in the NCAA Tournament National Semifinal played in Reunion Arena in Dallas, Texas, to send Duke to the championship game.
  • March 14, 1999: Duke 97, Tulsa 56 - As an assistant coach at his alma mater and under Coach K, Dawkins is on staff to beat a Tulsa team with Bill Self at the helm in the second round of the 1999 NCAA Tournament.
  • Nov. 28, 2000: Duke 78, Illinois 77 - At a Greensboro Coliseum neutral site contest, Dawkins again as an assistant helps in lifting his team to a win over a Bill Self led squad, this time as he’s piloting a No. 9 Illini squad in a top-10 showdown.
  • March 23, 2014: Stanford 60, Kansas 57 - At the helm of Stanford, Dawkins leads the Cardinal to the Sweet 16 of the 2014 NCAA Tournament as a No. 10 seed after beating New Mexico and a Bill Self-led Kansas squad to advance. The appearance remains Stanford’s most recent run to March Madness.
  • Jan. 10, 2024: UCF 65, Kansas 60 - Dawkins guides UCF to win over Bill Self-led No. 3 Jayhawks in Big 12 home debut.
• Six of UCF’s first seven games on its league slate are quad one contests acording to the NCAA NET rankings. The Knights earned a quad one win over Texas Tech to open league play and have another one with Kansas coming to Orlando on Jan. 5. Following a meeting on Jan. 8 with Colorado, UCF will play four straight quad one games. Out of the first 13 Big 12 contests, 10 of them present quad one opportunities. The Knights now own two quad one victories on the season, beating Texas A&M 64-61 on opening night as well as the Texas Tech win.
• The Knights have won six straight with Tuesday’s victory at Texas Tech. It’s UCF’s first six-game winning streak since the 2019-20 season. A win against Kansas would be the first seven-game winning streak since the Knights’ magical 2018-19 season that ended in an NCAA Tournament berth and first win in March Madness in program history. UCF is out to a 10-2 start for the third time in the last four campaigns and fifth total time under Dawkins.

THE MATCHUP

• UCF and Kansas met for the first time in program history last season. The two sides faced each other just once in the 2024 Big 12 slate as the Knights earned the 65-60 victory over the No. 3 team in the land on Jan. 10, 2024.
• The victory ranks among the most prolific in program history, representing the first against a top three nationally-ranked opponent and the second against a top five foe. En route to the Knights victory, the Black and Gold erased a Jayhawk lead that grew to as many as 16 points with 3:45 remaining in the first half.

SCOUTING KANSAS

• Kansas is coming off a 62-61 loss to West Virginia in its Big 12 opener on Dec. 31. Under Bill Self, since 2003-04, Kansas is 124-21 (85.5%) following a loss. A loss against UCF on Sunday would be Kansas' first time starting 0-2 in league play since the 1990-91 campaign, snapping a 33-season streak of starting at least 1-1 in conference games. A loss would also make Kansas 9-4 for the first time since the 2005-06 season and only the second time in the Bill Self era (since 2003-04).
• The Jayhawks are No. 21 in the NET report by the NCAA through games of Jan. 1. The No. 21 rank is fourth in the Big 12 behind No. 5 Houston, No. 6 Iowa State and No. 17 Baylor.
• Kansas is third in the Big 12, and 18th nationally in assists per game at 18.1. KU is also third in the league and 12th nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.76.
• Graduate guard Dajuan Harris Jr. leads the Big 12 and is 10th nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio at 3.63. Harris is second in the conference, 33rd nationally, with 5.8 assists per game. Harris scored his 1,000th career point against NC State (12/14). He is the 67th
  all-time Jayhawk to eclipse 1,000 points, including the 22nd KU player in the Bill Self era.
• Graduate C Hunter Dickinson leads the Big 12 in double-doubles with seven, which is seventh nationally. He is second in the Big 12 and 10th nationally in rebounds per game at 10.4 rpg.
• With the 86-51 win against Furman on Nov. 30, Kansas won its 2,400th all time game, becoming only the second school to achieve 2,400 wins.
• With the Nov. 12 win against Michigan State, Kansas head coach Bill Self passed Phog Allen as the winningest coach in KU history. Self is 597-146 in his 22nd season at KU. Phog Allen was 590-129 in 36 seasons on the KU sidelines.