The Knights got on the board first with a Moustapha Thiam slam. Cincinnati answered with two of their own but the Black and Gold responded with a Keyshawn Hall three and midrange make for Jordan Ivy-Curry, building a five-point lead early. UCF extended the lead to six at 14-8 after a Darius Johnson triple and Ivy-Curry free throw just over five minutes in.
Cincinnati trimmed its deficit to two with back-to-back buckets before Hall made one-of-two from the line, snapping a 25-straight made free throw streak. The Bearcats answered with a layup before the under 12-minute media timeout, cutting the deficit to one. With 11:45 to play, both teams were shooting north of 50%, with just one made triple from UCF and none from Cincinnati.
Between the under 12 and under eight-minute timeouts, the Bearcats put together a 9-5 run, taking the lead at 16-15 and running it up to a 19-15 edge before UCF scored again. It wound up being the lone time on the night that the lead changed hands. Ivy-Curry brought it back to a one-point game with a three, putting an end to Cincinnati’s 11-1 run with UCF still very much in the contest.
The Knights evened the scoring at 36-36 with 58 seconds left in the half thanks to a tough Johnson layup. Cincinnati added two more buckets, including a wild tip in at the buzzer to take a 40-36 advantage into the locker room.
The Bearcats banged home a three-pointer to start the second half. The Knights answered with four points in the paint, but Cincinnati responded and went on a 7-2 run to take a 50-42 lead.
The two sides essentially traded runs the rest of the game, as Cincinnati slowly edged their way to a 10-point lead at 70-60 with 8:16 to go. The Knights cut that deficit in half with 5:26 to go after a trio of free throws and a layup made it 76-71, but that was the closest the Black and Gold got to catching the Bearcats. UCF was unable to make stops when they needed them most, allowing 53 points in the second half.
Cincinnati shot 58.5% on the night, the highest clip from the field allowed during the Dawkins era. The Bearcats shot making ability, along with the 56 points in the paint, told the story. The paint points were the second-most allowed this season. UCF had the edge in offensive rebounding by 10 at a 17-7 edge but only led Cincinnati in second chance points 16-13.
