Teams don’t usually, if ever, come into the Marriott Center and dominate BYU.
But that’s exactly what UCF did Tuesday night, stunning the No. 19-ranked Cougars 97-84 in a game that was far less competitive than the final score suggests.
“To coach a game like that was amazing because I thought we got off to a terrific start,” UCF coach Johnny Dawkins said postgame. “I thought the guys were really dialed in, and I’m just proud of the effort that they gave for the full 40 minutes.
“This is a very, very difficult place to play in and win in, and I thought our guys held their composure and they played really well throughout most of the game.”
The Knights got off to a hot start, leading 14-4 after less than four minutes and held a 24-point advantage at halftime.
“We just want to continue to play for each other and defend. You know, that’s our calling card, we want to defend and rebound and play for each other,” Dawkins said. “I think that formula for us has been good, and I think our guys did again tonight.”
UCF buried BYU for good out of halftime, opening the second half on a 12-0 run to lead by a game-high 36 points. While the Cougars made some noise in garbage time, it wasn’t enough to topple the upstart Knights, who still won by 13 points and scored 97 points on BYU’s home floor.
“How we started the second half, I thought it was very important for our guys to be really focused and locked in,” Dawkins said. “We knew they weren’t going anywhere. I mean, they’re too good of a program, Kevin (Young)’s too good of a coach, and so we knew they were going to be there and so we had to make sure we matched that when we came out to start the second half.”
In all, UCF shot 58% from 3-point range, dished out 25 team assists and averaged 1.31 points per possession.
BYU star AJ Dybantsa did score 29 points, but the Knights made his life difficult as he started slow and only got to the free-throw line once in the first half.
“He’s a great player,” Dawkins said of Dybantsa. “I mean, you’re not going to stop a player like that. You look up at the box score, he scores 29 points, (shooting) 11 for 22 from the field. Like most teams, we’re just trying to kind of contain him, trying to make it as difficult as we possibly can for him.
“We knew they weren’t going anywhere. I mean, they’re too good of a program, Kevin (Young)’s too good of a coach, and so we knew they were going to be there and so we had to make sure we matched that when we came out to start the second half.”
— UCF coach Johnny Dawkins
“But we understand that he’s going to score and he’s going to make shots because, you know, we’ve watched a lot of really good players throughout this season, and he’s one of the best players that we’ve faced. I thought our guys did a good job of identifying who he was, where he was and playing him accordingly.”
With the win, UCF is a near lock for the NCAA Tournament, which would be the Knights’ first trip to the big dance since 2019.
“Anytime in this league that you can win a game on the road, I mean, that’s a challenge,” Dawkins said. “Our guys showed the resilience that they have. They’ve shown it all season long. I think they’ve showed their competitive spirit throughout the season and they showed their togetherness.
“They’ve been a really good, together group ever since this summer, and you have to be in this league to have any type of success.”
