BOULDER, Colo. – The UCF men’s basketball team fell on the road Saturday afternoon 76-63 to Colorado.
Mikey Williams, who was making his first collegiate start in place of the injured Jordan Ivy-Curry, opened the game with the Knights’ first two points. After a Colorado turnover, Keyshawn Hall swished a three-pointer to give UCF the 5-4 edge. Shots weren’t falling for either side early, as UCF held a 9-8 lead six minutes in.
The shots finally started falling, but unfortunately for the Knights, it was the other black and gold team. Colorado pieced together a 7-0 run while UCF was in a one-for-seven shooting slump to take a 13-9 lead.
UCF started to get shots to fall out of the under-12 media timeout, as JJ Taylor earned a steal out of the break, feeding it to Darius Johnson on the fast break for two. Colorado answered with a triple to make it 16-11. Johnson hit a deep turnaround jumper, but the Buffaloes again answered with a triple. Johnson responded with a three of his own, responsible for seven straight UCF points. Again though, Colorado buried a three to respond.
A Moustapha Thiam triple cut the UCF deficit to four at 25-21. Two Colorado free throws drop which yielded to a 10-0 Knights run to put the good Black and Gold up 31-27. Hall got the run going with a fastbreak layup, earning an extra point at the charity stripe off the and-one opportunity. Nils Machowski went on a run of his own, earning seven straight points with two baskets in the paint surrounding a three. Colorado missed seven shots in as many attempts, including three turnovers in a two-minute span to help UCF climb on top.
Colorado finished the half outscoring UCF 11-5, a stretch that included a 7-0 run where five points came from free throws, taking a 38-36 lead into the break. The Knights held a 14-2 edge in points off turnovers heading into the break and a slight 16-14 edge in points in the paint.
UCF came out solid on defense to start the second half, with the team smacking the floor before the ball was inbounded to begin the final 20, resulting in a Dallan ‘Deebo’ Coleman steal. After a UCF miss, Coleman again snatched a steal but came up empty on the offensive end on the resulting possession which ended in a spinning layup for Colorado, taking a 40-36 lead. Both teams went cold on offense from there as the Buffaloes missed eight straight shots, while UCF finally found its first basket of the second half after missing the first seven, a Hall three-pointer.
With Colorado in front 42-39, Colorado slowly began to pull away. They went up eight after a triple and fastbreak layup. Hall answered with a layup in the paint, but The Buffaloes added another four points to go up 10 at 51-41. UCF was able to cut it back to five at 55-50 after Machowski drilled a three-pointer, ending a streak of four straight misses from the field for the team. Hall added two free throws on top of it to cut the deficit to five.
Colorado missed a triple to go back up eight, and Coleman was fouled on the floor gathering the rebound, putting UCF in the single bonus with 7:26 to go. Momentum swung heavily in the Buffaloes’ favor as the front end of the one-and-one was missed, leading directly to a three-pointer on the ensuing possession, as the lead returned to eight for Colorado.
A pair of made free throws from Thiam briefly brought it back to six, but that’s the closest the contest would get to approaching back to even. Another two points from Colorado were answered by one free throw before making way for a 7-0 run by the Buffaloes, putting UCF down 14 at 67-53 with 3:44 to play.
UCF’s sixth straight loss is the first time under Dawkins the program has lost six in a row and the first time since the 2015-16 season.
Machowski was a perfect five-for-five from the floor off the bench for the Knights, tying a career-high 13 points and five rebounds. Hall led the Knights in scoring with 19 points while Johnson followed closely behind with 15.
UP NEXT
The Knights will look to bounce back on the road at Oklahoma State on Wednesday, Feb. 19.
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