Men's Hoops Set for First Round of College Basketball Crown

ORLANDO – The UCF men's basketball team is set for the inaugural College Basketball Crown hosted in Las Vegas. The Knights will face Oregon State in the opening round on Tuesday afternoon.

GAME INFORMATION
Date: Tuesday, April 1, 2025
Time: 5:30 p.m. ET/2:30 p.m. local
Location: Las Vegas, Nev.; MGM Grand Garden Arena
TV: FS1
TV Talent: Tim Brando (PxP), Donny Marshall (Analyst), Nick Bahe (Sideline)
Radio: FM 96.9/AM 740 The Game
Radio Talent: Marc Daniels (PxP)

KNIGHT NOTES

• For the fifth time in head coach Johnny Dawkins’ nine seasons, UCF will take part in a postseason tournament. UCF’s trip to the inaugural College Basketball Crown is the third consecutive postseason appearance; the Knights were in the NIT the past two seasons, which included a win at Florida in the 2023 NIT. The appearance in the Crown will mark Dawkins’ 10th postseason apperance as a head coach over his 17 seasons.
• UCF’s first round College Basketball Crown contest will mark the first game in April in program history. The previous latest game on the calendar in program history was UCF’s NIT semifinals appearance against TCU on March 28, 2017. The Knights, along with Kansas State, Iowa State and Arizona State, are the only Big 12 teams to not play a game in April. Six Big 12 schools that have played in April do not have a win in the month. Kansas leads the Big 12 with eight wins in the month of April, followed by Baylor with four, Texas Tech with two and Houston, Colorado and Utah all with one.
• Although UCF will be facing Oregon State for the first time, it won’t be head coach Johnny Dawkins’ first time facing the Beavers. Dawkins went 10-7 against Oregon State while at the helm of Stanford, winning six of his last eight against them. Dawkins has a winning record against five of the six teams from the old Pac-12 that are partaking in the College Basketball Crown. In his coaching career, Dawkins is a combined 53-37 against the former Pac-12 programs in Vegas. Aside from Oregon State, he is 12-8 vs. Arizona State, 9-5 vs. Washington State, 9-6 vs. USC, 7-4 vs. Utah and 6-7 vs. Colorado.
• The Knights have been one of the nation’s best from the charity stripe, entering the College Basketball Crown ranking 10th in free throws made per game and 22nd in free throw percentage. As a team, UCF has already set a program record for made free throws in a season with 581 and are on pace to set a record for the highest single season free throw percentage, entering the Crown at 77.7%, needing to beat 2022-23’s 77.1%.
• Senior guard Darius Johnson, who has spent all four of his seasons with the Knights, is playing his best basketball down the stretch. He has tallied six straight 20+ point games, topping his previous best of just two straight earlier this season. Johnson has averaged 24.7 points per game over the last six contests, shooting 51.5% from the field and 42.6% from deep while making two or more threes in all but one game over the stretch, including three games with four or more made.
• The Knights have piled up 2,617 points this season, which is just 44 points shy of breaking the program record for points in a single season. The 2,617 points is the program’s Division I history and is set to top the 1979-80 record during the Crown.
• UCF earned 10 or more three-pointers for the 13th time this season, tying a season-high 14 made threes vs. Kansas in the second round of the Big 12 Championship. The Knights enter the College Basketball Crown burying 10 or more triples in three of their last four games after not doing so at all during the month of February. To put in perspective the shooting capability of this year’s team, the Knights hit 10 or more three pointers just twice last season. Additionally, UCF has five games where they’ve shot 50% or better from the floor after doing that four times in the previous campaign. The Knights average 8.7 made three pointers per game, close to the highest number of made threes during Dawkins’ tenure at 8.8 during the 2021-22 campaign. The high clip has helped UCF to its highest scoring offense under Dawkins as well. The Black and Gold have knocked down 286 three pointers this season, making them nine triples short of tying the single season program record of 295 threes made in 2022-23.

THE MATCHUP

• This will be the first time the two programs meet on the hardwood.

SCOUTING OREGON STATE

• The Beavers have secured their third 20-win season in the last 35 years, and their second during Wayne Tinkle’s tenure as head caoch. The Beavers’ current winning percentage is on pace to be the best by the program since the 1989-90 team went 22-7
• The Beavers are 21st in the nation in field goal percentage (48.4) and 13th in free throw percentage (78.6). OSU’s field goal percentage is currently on pace
  to be the best by the program since the 2013-14 squad shot 48.8 percent
  from the floor. The Beavers are also on pace to set the program’s highest mark for free throw percentage
• Damarco Minor has moved into the top-eight in Oregon State history for single-season assists
• Oregon State has shot 45 percent or better from the floor 21 times this season