2024-25 UCF Men's Basketball Season Recap

Any 20-win season is special, but not all are created equal. UCF’s 2024-25 men’s basketball campaign was a special one in many ways and generated stories to be told for years to come. A season that began with a court storming finished with a run to the championship game of the inaugural College Basketball Crown. Four-year star guard Darius Johnson made his senior campaign one that will be remembered while transfer Keyshawn Hall joined the Knights, leading the team in scoring average in what was the highest scoring season in program history. A third straight postseason appearance capped a year in which the Black and Gold played 37 games, the longest slate to date. Below are 12 key points that made UCF’s second year in the Big 12 a memorable one.

1. OPENING NIGHT WIN OVER NO. 13 TEXAS A&M

The Knights began 2024-25 with a bang, hosting No. 13 Texas A&M in Orlando for opening night. UCF missed eight consecutive shots to start the contest and went down by double-digit points four different times. What was a 56-45 Aggies lead with 6:24 remaining became a one-point Knights advantage at 62-61 with 45 seconds to play, thanks to a host of Knights contributing on the stat sheet. A JJ Taylor free throw extended the lead to two with 33 ticks left. He contributed in locking down the game on the defensive end on the next possession, earning a crucial block with 15 seconds remaining. Texas A&M got three looks on their final possession to try and tie, but the UCF defense locked down the Aggies, earning the 64-61 ranked victory to begin the campaign.

Johnson, who was in store for a record-setting 2024-25 season, led all scorers with 24 points on the night and was joined by three other Knights in double-figures. The winning effort represented the 11th over a ranked opponent in program history and the first in three tries in a season-opener. Of the 13 ranked victories in program history, 11 have come under head coach Johnny Dawkins. For the second time of the 2024 calendar year, Knight nation stormed the court at Addition Financial Arena to celebrate UCF’s come-from-behind win over a ranked opponent.

With the momentum of an early ranked win on their side, the Knights edged their way into receiving votes in both the AP and Coaches polls in the weeks two and three versions. The multiple nods by top 25 voters was the first time since Dec. 28, 2020 that UCF received recognition in the polls, snapping a 1,413 day stretch without votes.

2. A DUO OF 1,000-POINT MILESTONES ACHIEVED

A pair of Knights reached the 1,000-point mark during the 2024-25 slate. Johnson was the first to do it, accomplishing the career milestone on Nov. 19, 2024, vs. Tennessee Tech. He became the 21st player in program history to score 1,000 points while donning the Black and Gold. His journey to an eventual top 10 all-time finish in points at UCF had just begun, tallying two 20-point games over his first three outings of the season. He went on to tally 15 games of 20 or more points, including three of 30 or better, powering his way to the third-most points in any UCF Division I campaign, scoring 644 points in his senior season. His four-year journey as a Knight led him to become UCF’s eighth all-time leading scorer, wrapping up his career with 1,586 points.

Keyshawn Hall, a junior who transferred in from George Mason during the offseason, took the Big 12 Conference by storm, tallying up the points in bunches to eclipse the 1,000-career point mark, doing so at Baylor on Feb. 8. Hall went on to finish the year tied for the Big 12 lead in scoring at 18.8 points per game while leading the conference over the span of the 20-game league slate with a clip of 20.3.

Johnson became the third member of his family to reach the 1,000-point mark, eventually passing his dad Kelvin and brother Xavier. Kelvin scored 1,400 points in four seasons at Richmond while Xavier scored 1,452 in three years with George Mason and two with Southern Illinois.

With both Johnson and Hall reaching the 1,000-point milestone, UCF boasted four scorers on the roster to reach the mark at some point in their careers, including Jordan Ivy-Curry and Jaylin Sellers. The Knights were one of five Big 12 schools with four or more 1,000+ point scorers on the team.

3. A PAIR OF 40-POINT GAMES

Both Johnson and Hall tallied a 40-point game on the campaign. Hall was the first to do it, scoring 40 points at Arizona State on Jan. 14. Johnson earned his 40+ point outing by scoring 42 vs. Villanova at the College Basketball Crown on April 5. The performances were the third and fourth 40+ point games in the program’s Division I history.

4. JOHNSON AND HALL HONORED

Hall and Johnson were both honored by the Big 12 Conference at the end of the regular season. Hall was named to the All-Big 12 Second Team and All-Newcomer Team while Johnson was tabbed as All-Big 12 Honorable Mention for the second consecutive season. Hall was the first Knight to be named to a first, second or third team while UCF has been a member of the Big 12 and was the first to be named to one of the top three teams since Taylor Hendricks was a member of the All-American Athletic Conference Second Team in 2022-23.

Hall was also named an NABC Second Team-All District honoree. The 2024-25 campaign marked the second season in a row that Hall was named to an All-District squad; he was named NABC All-District First Team while at George Mason in 2023-24. Hall was the first Knight to be named to an NABC All-District Team since B.J. Taylor earned a first team nod in 2018-19. Overall, Hall is the fifth member of the Black and Gold to earn the honor in program history, joining Taylor, Keith Clanton (2011-12 and 2012-13), Isaiah Sykes (2012-13) and Jermaine Taylor (2008-09), all first team nods.

Additionally, Hall earned a nod as the Big 12 Conference's Newcomer of the Week on Jan. 20 for his 40+ point outing at Arizona State.

5. A SENIOR KNIGHT TO REMEMBER

One of seven Big 12 players to suit up in the same uniform for all four years, Johnson's senior send-off was a spectacle to behold. A historic night for the senior, Johnson broke his previous career high in points with 36, built by seven threes and a perfect game from the charity stripe. When breaching his high at 34 points, the DMV native also made his 200th career threes, something that’s only been done by four other players in UCF history. Leaving his mark in one more place on UCF record books, Johnson’s 36-point performance ties the most points recorded by a senior on their senior night with Jermaine Taylor who did so in 2009.

6. QUEST FOR THE CROWN

The Knights got to be part of something special this postseason as they earned a nod to the inaugural College Basketball Crown, a 16-team tournament hosted in Las Vegas for a share of a pool of NIL prize money. The bracket featured automatic bids from the Big 12, Big Ten and Big East as well as other at-large selections.

UCF made the most of the postseason berth, captivating national audiences on FOX or FS1 as the Black and Gold marched to the championship game. The Knights drew Oregon State in the first round of the Crown, pulling out a 76-75 victory after withstanding a last-minute surge from the Beavers. UCF met conference-foe Cincinnati in the quarterfinals, snapping a five-game skid against the Bearcats in an 88-80 victory. Johnson tallied 31 points thanks to five triples to lift UCF to the semifinals.

Johnson turned it up a notch in UCF’s semifinal game against Villanova, scoring 42 points while setting the program record for made free throws in a game with 17, propelling the Knights to a 104-98 overtime victory. The scoring display was tied for the second-most points in a game in UCF’s Division I history and a career-high for Johnson.

The Knights' magical run fell just short of earning a title, falling 77-66 in the championship game to Nebraska.

7. RECORD NUMBER OF POINTS AND THREE POINTERS

With the win over Oregon State in the opening round of the College Basketball Crown, UCF eclipsed the program’s single season points record, finishing the year with 2,951points. The Knights topped the previous best of 2,617, accomplished in 1979-80.

UCF’s offense erupted compared to years past, averaging 79.8 points per game, the highest clip in the Coach Dawkins era. The Knights scored 80 points or better 19 times during the campaign.

A large part of compiling the most points in program history came from scoring the most threes in program history, finishing with 328 made triples. The previous mark was set in 2022-23 with 295 makes from long range. A trio of Knights had 45 or more three-point makes; Johnson led the way with 93, followed by Ivy-Curry with 69 and Hall with 45. As a team, UCF hit 10 or more threes in 16 games on the campaign and did so six times over the final eight contests of the year.

8. ACCOMPLISHED NON-CON RUN

The Knights finished their nonconference slate with a 9-2 record, the second best mark by winning percentage in the out-of-conference schedule under Dawkins at .818, second to the 10-2 non-league schedule during the 2018-19 season that saw the Knights make a run to the NCAA Tournament and earn the first March Madness victory in program history.

UCF went a perfect 8-0 at home in this year’s non-conference slate, the first time going perfect since 2011-12. 1 The Knights have won at least eight non-conference games in each full season under Dawkins (omitting 2-1 record in COVID affected 2020-21 season) and have won nine non-conference games for the seventh time under him. The Knights got out to a 4-0 start, tying the best start during the Dawkins era. The 2017-18 and 2021-22 campaigns also saw 4-0 starts. The trio of 4-0 starts all have something in common in the fact the Knights beat at least one Power Four team in those stretches, and each campaign ended with at least 18 victories. The 2024-25 start is the only one of the three that includes a ranked victory, thanks to the 64-61 victory over No. 13 Texas A&M.

9. ROOKIE BLOCK RECORD

While UCF didn’t set a single season record for blocks, finishing with the third most in program history with 163, a rookie did set the Black and Gold’s freshman record for rejections in a season. Moustapha Thiam, the program’s highest-rated recruit, impressed from the start by swatting aside six shots in the opening night victory over Texas A&M. He earned five blocks or better in six games while boasting three or more blocks in 16 contests. Thiam even tied the program record for blocks in a single game with eight, doing so against Kansas State on Feb. 26. He finished the season with 88 blocks, the most by a UCF freshman and second-most in a campaign in program history.

The previous rookie record for blocks was 70 set by Tacko Fall in 2015-16.

10. BIG-12 OPENING WIN AT TEXAS TECH

UCF’s start to the 2024-25 Big 12 slate began in Lubbock, Texas, facing the Red Raiders on New Years Eve. The Black and Gold started celebrating the new year early by launching fireworks of its own before the stroke of topping Texas Tech 87-83 thanks to shooting over 50% from the field. Hall was a perfect seven-for-seven from the floor in the first half, dropping 17 points while Johnson had 17 of his own in the second to power the Knights to a New Year’s Eve victory on the road.

UCF’s 87-point performance in its Big 12 opener was more points than it had scored in any Big 12 regular season win during the 2023-24 campaign and one shy of tying the most they had scored in any conference game last season. The Black and Gold’s besting of Texas Tech snapped its perfect 8-0 home record and dropped the Red Raiders to 12-17 all-time in Big 12 openers. It also marked UCF’s sixth consecutive win, the first time the team had accomplished a six-game winning streak since 2019-20.

11. TALLYING 20 WINS

UCF won 20 games in a single season for the third time under Coach Dawkins and the 10th time in the program’s Division I tenure. Additionally, the 20-17 record was the fourth season in which UCF finished over .500, the second occurrence over Dawkins’ nine seasons at the helm. The last Knights coach besides Dawkins to accomplish that feat was Kirk Speraw, who had four straight winning seasons from 2001-02 to 2004-05.

12. NARROW DEFEATS

The Knights hung with the best of the Big 12 night in and night out. A pair of games against ranked opponents came down to the wire late, but unfortunately for the Black and Gold saw their foes pull out the victory. UCF’s Space Game saw the Knights fall by one to No. 10/8 Houston 69-68 on Jan. 18. The Black and Gold brought a lead into the game’s final possession, but the Cougars survived the Knights’ bid for their second ranked win of the season. Despite the loss, UCF rose to the occasion against the tenth-ranked Cougars, snapping Houston’s nine-game streak limiting its opposition to fewer than 60 points.

Ten days later, the Knights marched into historic Allen Fieldhouse to battle No. 11 Kansas. An angry Jayhawk team who was looking to avoid back-to-back home conference losses for the first time in 30 years had to use all 40 minutes to fend off the Black and Gold. UCF led for more than half the contest behind enemy lines, but ultimately fell 91-87 despite nailing 14 three pointers in the contest.

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