ORLANDO – The UCF men’s basketball team fell in its 2024-25 Big 12 Conference home opener to the No. 7 Kansas Jayhawks, 99-48, at Addition Financial Arena Sunday evening.
With the defeat, UCF dropped to 10-3 on the season and 1-1 in league play, while the Jayhawks (10-3, 1-1 Big 12), earned their first conference victory of the season.
“Kansas played a great game,” head coach Johnny Dawkins said. “They came in with a good focus and made a lot of connecting plays. We have to be better. Where we hang our hats, defensively and rebounding, it wasn’t who we’ve been and who we want to be. We have to get back in the gym and work toward what we have to do to be successful in this conference.”
A trio of 3-point shots by Jordan Ivy-Curry, Dallan ‘Deebo’ Coleman and Darius Johnson aided UCF in keeping pace with the seventh-ranked Jayhawks through a low-scoring, defensive first seven minutes, as the Knights entered the under-12 media timeout trailing 16-11.
Ivy-Curry, Keyshawn Hall and Jaylin Sellers each drilled a pair of free throw tries down the stretch, but in spite of two more triples by Hall and Coleman, Kansas brought a 44-25 advantage into the halftime break.
“We got knocked back early. They came out and made some plays at the basket with Hunter (Dickinson), who set the tone for them,” Dawkins continued. “They were able to feed off of that. We tried to get it all back fast, and that’s not who we’ve been. That helped snowball what was going on.”
Dior Johnson’s six points paced the Black and Gold’s 23-point second half, aided by makes from beyond the arc by Hall and Coleman. Hall’s 12 points led the squad as well, marking his fifth such occasion as UCF’s leading scorer this season.
UP NEXT
UCF will look to bounce back from its loss to Kansas in its next home outing against the Colorado Buffaloes Wednesday, Jan. 8. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. from Addition Financial Arena and will be streamed on ESPN+.
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