KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The UCF men’s basketball team was relentless in their pursuit of attempting to advance through the Big 12 Conference Championship Second Round but were outdueled by Kansas in a heartbreaking 98-94 overtime loss.
“It was a hard-fought game, I thought our guys gave a great effort. You tip your hat to Kansas for the way they played. I thought our guys did a good job of following the gameplan and giving us a chance to be able to win against a team that’s very experience. Really proud of our guys’ overall effort.”
Johnny DawkinsUCF Men's Basketball Head CoachIn what wound up being the highest scoring game in the history of the Big 12 Championship, the Knights found themselves locked in a tight first half before falling behind quickly in the second. Never surrendering, UCF used a 14-0 run to propel themselves back into the contest before going stride for stride with Kansas for the final 10 minutes of regulation. Jordan Ivy-Curry hit a three-pointer to force overtime where the Knights hung tough but ultimately couldn’t pull out the victory.
The Knights missed on their first five shots of the ballgame after a turnover on the first possession as Kansas raced out to an 8-0 edge, all from Zeke Mayo. UCF’s senior leader in Darius Johnson got the Knights going with back-to-back drives to the basket. The Jayhawks answered with a pair of buckets, only to see UCF do the same once again, this time with a pair from Moustapha Thiam and another by Johnson on the fastbreak. After a KU layup, Nils Machowski drained a triple and was followed by a Jordan Ivy-Curry lay in to cut the deficit to one at 14-13.
The Knights leveled the scoring at 22-22 with 8:35 remaining in the first as Keyshawn Hall hit one of two from the charity stripe. A 7-2 Kansas run put them back up by half a dozen before Ivy-Curry answered with a tough jumper to make it 30-26.
Anytime the game looked like it was in danger of getting out of hand, the Knights found a way to keep themselves in it. The Jayhawks went up by six on the scoreboard five different times in the final six minutes of the opening frame, but UCF had the last say, burying five of the final seven points of the half, all from Thiam. The freshman knocked down UCF’s fifth triple with 31 seconds left to slash the deficit to just three at 40-37.
Hall had all the answers in the first, scoring 14 points after registering 17 in the second half of Tuesday’s first round win over Utah. The UCF defense found a way to limit Kansas’ Hunter Dickinson to just three points after he exploded for 27 and 24 in the previous two meetings this season.
An empty Kansas possession to start the second yielded to Hall banging home his third three pointer of the game to even the game at 40 all. After being bottled up by the Black and Gold in the first, Dickinson grabbed a pair of second chance makes plus a three pointer for a solo 7-0 run. Johnson ended the stretch with a layup that rolled around the rim and down. Kansas answered with a make of their own before Machowski hit a pair of free throws to trim it back to a five-point deficit.
It started raining triples for the Jayhawks shortly after as Dickinson delivered from long range. UCF answered with an alley-oop for Thiam but again saw three points tallied on a Mayo triple. Ivy-Curry responded with a layup, only to see another shot from distance go through, forcing the Knights to call a timeout, down double-digits for the first time of the contest.
A missed UCF three went the other way for another three Kansas points resulting in a game-high 13-point lead. Thiam earned a trip to the line shortly after, hitting one of two free throws before Johnson took a ball from the top of the key all the way to the hole. Hall did the same, trimming the deficit back to single digits at eight. The Jayhawks answered by burying their fifth triple in their last six attempts, ballooning the lead back to 11.
The Knights erased the deficit with a three-point streak of their own, nailing four consecutive triples without a miss, part of a 14-0 run. Thiam got it going with a long-distance strike before Dallan ‘Deebo’ Coleman got in on the action, forcing Kansas to burn a timeout with 10:32 to play, holding a 64-59 edge. After a skirmish of turnovers, Coleman was good from distance again, pulling UCF within two. UCF again forced Kansas to cough up the rock, a steal from Coleman that eventually resulted in a Tyler Hendricks corner three to give the Knights the 65-64 lead with 9:21 to go. The Jayhawks were forced to burn yet another timeout, frantically attempting to stop the run. Hall piled on a pair of free throws after a missed Kansas three to put UCF up three with 8:47 showing on the clock.
The Knights had compiled its second run of 14 unanswered points or more in as many days after piecing together a 15-0 run against Utah on Tuesday to launch them back into their first round game.
The remainder of the second half of Wednesday night’s tilt didn’t see the lead grow greater than four points. UCF surrendered its brief three-point lead with 6:40 to go after Johnson was called for a flagrant foul, before taking a one-point lead again with 3:16 to play on the tail end of two Johnson free throws.
Four straight Kansas free throws erased UCF’s advantage, but the Knights kept it close. Johnson earned a pair of his own before fouling out with 1:13 to play, giving the Jayhawks two more from the charity stripe to take an 83-80 lead.
The final moments of regulation saw UCF come up empty on the next trip down the floor despite gathering the offensive rebound. The Knights got the stop on the defensive end with 23 seconds to go. Ivy-Curry gathered the rebound and glided up the court, making a move to his left at the top of the arc and burying his lone triple of the night to tie the game at 83 with only a handful of seconds to play.
JORDAN IVY-CURRY WITH THE THREE BALL TO TIE IT WITH LESS THAN 30 SECONDS TO GO ‼️#Big12MBB | @Phillips66Gas pic.twitter.com/CUXqHhrDwU
— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) March 13, 2025
Kansas turned the ball over on the ensuing possession, leaving 4.3 seconds on the clock for UCF to go the length of the floor. With a chance to win it, Ivy-Curry was forced to take a tough fadeaway from distance that didn’t go down, forcing overtime.
Dickinson, after hitting just 10 three-pointers the entire season while shooting 22.2% from deep, nailed his third of the night to get Kansas up early in overtime. The Jayhawks never surrendered the lead in the extra segment, but that doesn’t mean UCF didn’t get close to snatching it back. Free throws kept it within one possession for the first 2:14 of overtime before a Dickinson dunk and an additional Kansas lay in made it a five-point lead with 1:18 to go. UCF’s resilience came out again as Machowski drilled a three with 54 ticks to play with his team trailing 92-90. Hall stole the ball back, but lost it out of bounds in the offensive end, forcing UCF to foul with 25 seconds left. Kansas hit both free throws, trying to put the Knights away.
Ivy-Curry responded with a drive to the lane, earning and converting on an and-one chance to bring it back within one with 18 seconds left at 94-93. Kansas missed on one of two free throws, leaving the door open for UCF to complete the comeback. The Knights worked the ball to Thiam for a baseline jumper with less than five second to play, but the ball rattled out. Still, UCF had a shot as Kansas made just one of two free throws after being fouled. Coleman carried the ball up trying to get a three away but was fouled on the floor. He made the first before trying to intentionally miss the second with 0.9 seconds left, but didn’t hit the rim, turning the ball over and sealing UCF’s fate.
The Knights tied a season-high with 14 made three pointers. Hall led the way with his fourth double-double of the campaign, scoring 25 points with 11 rebounds. Johnson scored 20 points for the sixth consecutive game, finishing the night with 22 points and seven steals. Thiam was one rebound shy of his fourth double-double in a six game span.