Men's Hoops Set for First Round of Big 12 Championship vs. Utah

ORLANDO – The UCF men's basketball team is set for the Big 12 Conference Championship First Round, facing eleventh-seeded Utah in the final game of the opening day of the tournament.

GAME INFORMATION
Date: Tuesday, March 11, 2025
Time: 9:30 p.m. ET/8:30 p.m. CT
Location: Kansas City, Mo.; T-Mobile Center
TV: ESPN+
TV Talent: Roxy Bernstein (PxP), King McClure (Analyst)
Radio: FM 96.9/AM 740 The Game
Radio Talent: Marc Daniels (PxP)

PREGAME INFORMATION
UCF's pregame pep rally will be hosted from 5:30-5:50 p.m. CT across from the T-Mobile Center at the Kansas City Live Block. After the pep rally, Knights fans are encouraged to gather at Johnny's Tavern prior to each UCF game throughout the tournament.

KNIGHT NOTES

• Keyshawn Hall and Darius Johnson were recognized by the Big 12 Conference, as Hall was named All-Big 12 Second Team and All-Newcomer team while Johnson was tabbed as All-Big 12 Honorable Mention for the second straight year. Hall is UCF’s first player to be named to the first, second or third team in the Knights’ time in the Big 12 and first to be named to one of those teams since Taylor Hendricks was named All-American Athletic Conference Second Team in 2022-23. Overall, Hall is the ninth player under Coach Dawkins to be named to a first, second or third team in his tenure.
• After going down 27 points on the road in the regular season finale at West Virginia, the Knights came out with a strong second half, outscoring the Mountaineers 40-25 in the second half, cutting the deficit to just three late. UCF limited West Virginia to 29.2% from the field in the second half, the lowest by a Knights’ opponent this season, resulting in the 25 points which was also lowest by a UCF foe on the campaign. The Knights’ defense forced 13 West Virginia turnovers in just the second half, helping to chip away at the large deficit. Johnson led the charge on the defensive side of the ball, snatching seven steals, five of which were in the second half.
• Darius Johnson will go down as one of the best to ever suit up in a Knights uniform. With his outing at TCU, Johnson cracked into the top 10 in career points at UCF. He is also third in career assists at UCF and second in steals for the Black and Gold, achieving more than 400 and 200, respectively, reaching both milestones at Kansas on Jan. 28, making him one of four Knights to accomplish the feat. He boasts the most steals in UCF’s Division-I history and is one of the programs 21 1,000 point scorers. Johnson one steal away from breaking his own UCF Division I record of steals in a year at 73, achieved last season. He ranks 11th in the nation, averaging 2.35 steals p/gm. He finished last season 18th nationally and 2nd in the Big 12 in steals per game at 2.21. Earlier on the campaign, Johnson snatched an impressive season-high seven steals against California Baptist (Dec. 1) and then did it again on the final day of the regular season at West Virginia (March 8), tying a career-high. Johnson has been a marksman from deep this season, hitting 40.9% of his threes this season, improving on his 39.4% from last season, which was a 12.5% improvement over his sophomore season. The current campaign has seen him tally 12 games with a trio of three-point makes.
• Freshman Moustapha Thiam is the only freshman across the Power 4 and Big East to average 10+ points, 5+ rebounds and 2.5+ blocks per contest this season. He is one of just 11 freshmen to average 10+ points and 5+ boards, joined by fellow Big 12 star VJ Edgecombe as well as other big names such as Duke’s Cooper Flagg and Rutgers’ Ace Bailey. With 74 blocks on the campaign, the freshman set the UCF rookie record for blocks in a season, passing Tacko Fall’s 70 back in 2015-16. Overall, he is tied for third for single season blocks at UCF. To set the single season blocks record at UCF, Thiam would need to tally 95 before the end of the campaign. Thiam finished the regular season ranking sixth in the nation in blocks per game and first in the Big 12. According to KenPom, Thiam ranks 24th in the nation in block percentage with a 9.5% clip.
• Keyshawn Hall finished the regular season tied for the Big 12 scoring crown with a clip of 18.5 points per game, scoring 572 points. He led the league in scoring in conference games, averaging 20.3 points per game against Big 12 competition.
• Prior to this season, UCF hung its hat on winning games on the defensive side of the ball. This season, its been the offense. In Dawkins’ previous eight seasons at the helm of the Black and Gold, the Knights averaged 68.9 points per game with the best clip in points per game sitting at 72.3 back in 2018-19, the last time UCF made the NCAA Tournament. This season, the offense has errupted, averaging 78.6 points per contest with 15 games of 80 or more points this season (52 total in JD era).
• The Knights are averaging 13.39 forced turnovers per game this season, nearing a trend from the last three seasons of UCF forcing north of 14.0 turnovers per game, including a 14.21 clip last season and a 14.82 mark in 2022-23, the highest during the Dawkins era. UCF’s defense ranks No. 108 in turnover percentage according to KenPom with a 18.2% clip which indicates that about one of every five Knight possessions stemmed from a turnover. The Knights finished ranked 29th last season after recording a 20.4% mark.
• With its 76-72 victory over Utah on Feb. 23, UCF finished with a record of 3-2 against Big 12 newcomers this season. UCF finished its early season three-game stretch against three of the newest Big 12 additions, topping Colorado 75-74 and adding a road win at Arizona State 95-89. The lone loss was wedged between the two wins, falling to Arizona on the road 88-80. UCF went 0-6 against last season’s group of newcomers and added a loss to BYU in the Big 12’s postseason tournament. All seven of UCF’s conference wins during the 2023-24 campaign came against legacy Big 12 schools.

THE MATCHUP

• The Knights won the lone meeting of the season against the Utes thanks to a Johnson layup inside of three seconds to play for a 76-72 win. UCF is 2-0 all-time against Utah.

SCOUTING UTAH

• Gabe Madsen earned All-Big 12 Honorable Mention nod at the end of season awards announced by the Big 12 Conference office ahead of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Conference Championship. Madsen, who is in his fifth and final season as a collegiate, led the team both in conference play (13.4 ppg) and on the season (15.3 ppg) as well. Madsennotched two major milestones in this fourth and final season as a Runnin’ Ute this season, joining the 1,000 points club and then breaking the Utah all-time 3-point field-goals made record.
• Junior Ezra Ausar has made a huge jump in play the second half of league, but has been dominant for Utah in his last five games, averaging 17.2 points and 6.4 rebounds with a .481 shooting clip. He's also improved at the line during that stretch, knocking down 34-of-44 for .773 shooting clip.
• Dating back to the start of the Big 12 Conference Tournament in 1997, the No. 11-seed has gone 5-16 overall – including the 2024 tournament where Cincinnati advanced to the quarterfinals.