Men's Hoops Set for Senior Knight, Hosts Oklahoma State

ORLANDO – The UCF men's basketball team is set for its final home game of the season, hosting Oklahoma State for a 7 p.m. tipoff Wednesday. The Knights will celebrate Darius Johnson, Dallan 'Deebo' Coleman and Benny Williams as a part of senior night prior to the contest.

GAME INFORMATION
Date: Wednesday, March 5, 2025
Time: 7 p.m. ET
Location: Orlando, Fla.; Addition Financial Arena
TV: ESPN+
TV Talent: Drew Fellios (PxP), BJ Taylor (Analyst)
Radio: FM 96.9/AM 740 The Game
Radio Talent: Marc Daniels (PxP), Taylor Young (Analyst)

KNIGHT NOTES

• UCF will celebrate Darius Johnson, Dallan ‘Deebo’ Coleman and Benny Williams on Senior Knight. Johnson is one of just seven players in the Big 12 to have spent four years at a single school and has the most points out of that group. Coleman and Williams joined UCF prior to the season after spending three years at Georgia Tech and Syracuse, respectively.
• 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 is closing in on breaking his own UCF Division I record of steals in a season at 73, achieved last season. He ranks 21st in the nation, averaging 2.24 steals per game. He finished last season 18th nationally and 2nd in the Big 12 in steals per game at 2.21.

• Freshman Moustapha Thiam swatted eight blocks vs. Kansas State on Feb. 26, tying a UCF record for blocks in a game. He also earned his first career double-double in the process, scoring 11 points while pulling in 10 rebounds. He then followed that game up with his second straight double-double, scoring 10 points with 10 rebounds and three blocks at TCU March 1.
• 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 70 blocks on the campaign, the Thiam is close to setting the UCF rookie record for rejections in a season, currently tied with UCF legend Tacko Fall who posted 70 blocks his rookie season in 2015-16. Thiam has already passed UCF’s first lottery and first round pick in program history in blocks as Taylor Hendricks had 59 during the 2022-23 campaign. Overall, he is tied for fourth in a sinlge season in blocks and would need to get to 95 to set the single season record.
• Thiam has scored double-digit points in 15 games, including a career-best 18 points three times (No. 10/8 Houston, at Baylor, Utah). He’s swatted aside five or more blocks in six contest, with his highest being eight against Kansas State Feb. 26 and six against then-No. 13/15 Texas A&M on opening night and Tarleton St. Dec. 8.
• Keyshawn Hall currently leads the Big 12 in scoring in both the regular season (18.9 ppg) and in conference play (21.2 ppg). He has 14 20+, three 30+, and one 40 point game while scoring double-digits in all but three games this season. Ten of his 20+ point performances are in conference play. Hall has strung together 12 striaght double-digit point performances, matching Jaylin Sellers' streak from last season. Hall has improved as the season has gone on, shooting much higher clips over the last 20 games than the first nine.
  • First nine games: 14.7 points per game, 38.2% from the field, 25% from three-point range
  • Next 20 games: 20.8 points per game, 45.7% from the field, 40.7% from three-point range
• Hall has a trio of double-doubles so far this season, most recently scoring 14 points with 13 rebounds at TCU. The first was his second outing with UCF, scoring 14 points with 12 rebounds against Purdue Fort Wayne while his second saw him drain 21 points and haul in 10 rebounds against LSU at The Greenbrier.
• 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 78.9 points per contest with 15 games of 80 or more points this season (52 total in JD era).
• The Knights go as their trio goes, with big differences in shooting percentages in wins vs. losses. Combined, the trio makes 6.0% more of their field goals and 3.9% more of their three-point attempts in games UCF wins.
  • In UCF Wins: Johnson: 44.8 FG%, 44.0 3PT%; Hall: 47.5 FG%, 40.7 3PT%; Ivy-Curry: 43.5 FG%, 32.3 3PT%
  • In UCF Losses: Johnson: 39.8 FG%, 35.4 3PT%; Hall: 40.4 FG%, 32.7 3PT%; Ivy-Curry: 34.8 FG%, 34.2 3PT%

THE MATCHUP

• After starting a perfect 3-0 against the Cowboys, UCF dropped its first contest to Oklahoma State just two weeks ago, falling 104-95. All previous four meetings have either been in Stillwater or at a neutral site, meaning Wednesday's senior night contest will be the first time the Cowboys have visited Orlando.

SCOUTING OKLAHOMA STATE

• Oklahoma State look to pick up their first Big 12 road win this season.
• Two weeks ago in Stillwater, Bryce Thompson scored a career-high 25 points and OSU reached the century mark for the first time in 18 years in the 104-95 victory over the Knights.
• The Cowboys swept non-conference visits to Tulsa and Seton Hall but have dropped 11 straight Big 12 road games, last winning Feb. 21, 2024 at Cincinnati.
• OSU led by 10 points late in the first half of Saturday's 71-61 loss at Baylor. Thompson led the way with 19 points and Arturo Dean notched the 1,000th of his collegiate career. OSU now has seven 1,000-point scorers on its roster, matching Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota and Ole Miss for the most nationally.
• Dean, the Big 12 steals leader (2.25) is among the keys to an OSU defense that ranks second in the league in steals (8.8) and takeaways (14.7)
• OSU (14-15, 6-12) has already exceeded last year's overall and Big 12 victory totals (12-20, 4-14) while improving by 30 spots in the NCAA NET rankings (96, up from 126).