ORLANDO - A difficult matchup Tuesday night at Addition Financial Arena saw the UCF men’s basketball team fall to No. 10 Iowa State, with late efforts coming up short en route to the 77-65 defeat.
While defensive displays kept the squad in the game, trailing by just five in the early stage of the season half, the Cyclones (19-5, 9-4) proved to be the better team in important spells of the game. Mikey Williams and Keyshawn Hall were consistently keeping UCF (13-11, 4-9) dangerous on the offensive end, while Iowa State produced a balanced effort from a quartet in double-digits.
Apart from an eye-catching Hall stepback three to open the scoring and a pair of Moustapha Thiam free throws, the opening minutes of action had each offense testing the floor. Multiple offensive boards from the Cyclones bridged threes from Milan Momcilovic and Curtis Jones.
While the Knights were finding open looks prior to the second media timeout, Jones found another triple to push the Iowa State lead to nine with just under 12 minutes to play. A Darius Johnson miss from beyond the arc would immediately be rectified out of the break, as Dallan ‘Deebo’ Coleman found the senior after securing the rebound, with Johnson leaving no doubt on his second attempt.
Johnson dished a nice pass to Tyler Hendricks, whose emphatic dunk cut the Cyclones' lead to four at 18-14 just as the contest passed the 10-minute mark. Johnson emphasized an eight-point swing from UCF with his second three of the game shortly after.
An Iowa State scoring drought that pushed over three minutes resulted in the Black and Gold securing their first lead since the opening minute courtesy of a crisp Jordan Ivy-Curry jumpshot. Newcomers Dior Johnson and Williams highlighted the 16-4 run as the offensive display guided the squad to a three-point lead at 25-22.
A constant in Big 12 basketball is the never-ending fight the opposition provides, as the Cyclones would level the bout at 25-all prior to the last media timeout. Following a tough finish at the rim from Darius Johnson, Iowa State fired off a 7-0 run to regain the lead at five. The passage would cease after an and-one by Hall, with the junior snatching an offensive board and utilizing his physicality to tally three points for the Knights. The opening 20 culminated with a promising stand on the defensive end as Iowa State led 32-30 after an enticing first half.
Balanced showings from Hall and Darius Johsnon with eight points apiece, complemented by an efficient six from Williams underlined the offensive efforts at the break. The Knights' 32 points surrendered in the opening half served as the second game this season UCF held its opponent to under 35 in conference play (TCU, 23).
Striving to find an early rhythm, the Knights couldn’t connect on five attempts prior to an early timeout at 17:30, with the Cyclones adding six in that span. Hall, now the fourth member of the 1,000-point club to currently don Black and Gold, once again tallied the first three points for the Knights to open the half with a tough and-one at the rim.
Williams authored a strong sequence as he snatched a defensive board before downing a three from the corner, preceding a Cyclones turnover and another signature finish at the rim from Hall. The spells couldn’t move the needle though as Iowa State’s lead never dipped below seven before the second media timeout.
The Cyclone lead would grow to 55-41 at the 10-minute point, forcing a timeout from the Knights. Two buckets from each side evened out the next three minutes as Hall secured his 12th 20-point performance of the year on a powerful finish in the paint. As each Knight basket fell, the Cyclones were energized in their response, never wavering the 10-point buffer between them.
One stoppage led to another before UCF was staring down a 13-point deficit exiting the final media timeout. After a Hall layup, Ivy-Curry was quick to the scene with a steal and a layup of his own to force an Iowa State timeout with just over two minutes on the clock. A Williams transition three finally pushed the lead below 10 with 60 seconds to play, however, the clock didn't provide the Knights with a canvas to overturn the tide.
Continuing to see his role expand, Williams displayed his best performance of the campaign, setting a season-high in minutes (27:39) and points (14) on a productive six of 12 from the field. Hall’s 22 led the Knights’ efforts, the 13th game this season the Cleveland native paced the Black and Gold. The junior matches former Knight Isaiah Sykes’ dominant 2012-13 campaign where he produced 12 games of 20-plus points of his own.
UP NEXT
The Knights will shift their sights toward a road swing to end the five-game skid on Saturday in Colorado, with tipoff set for 3 p.m. ET on ESPN+. Without a win in conference play for the Buffaloes, each team will be aiming to move back into the win column.