The UCF Knights defeated the South Alabama Panthers 76-69 on Tuesday night at Addition Financial Arena. With the win, UCF picked up its first win over South Alabama in school history, snapping a 42-year streak.
“Like I always say, it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish,” UCF coach Johnny Dawkins said. “40 minute game, no matter how you look at it. Whether you start slow and finish strong, you can start quick and finish slow. Same thing will happen. It’s all about trying to find a way to win. And that’s what we try to do.”
Dior Johnson, the nation’s leading scorer, once again led the Knights with 24 points and added a career-high nine assists and five steals. Bench guard Carmelo Pacheco also had 24 points, but on eight three-pointers, tied for the second-most makes in a game in UCF history.
“I’m really excited, but all of the credit goes to my teammates,” Pacheco said. “They find me in practice every day. They’re always encouraging me to shoot the ball.”
Game flow
The Knights started off hot in the first 30 seconds of the game, with Johnson hitting a three and Arturo Dean getting a steal and a layup. South Alabama responded with a 16-5 run and held UCF without a point for over four minutes.
Cayden Vasko broke the Knights’ scoreless streak with back-to-back threes to cut the deficit to two, but UCF went scoreless for another three minutes while the Panthers built an eight-point lead. Once again, another UCF bench guard hit threes in rapid succession, this time by Pacheco. Following his makes, UCF made only one field goal in almost six minutes.
South Alabama was up by eight with less than a minute left in the first half, but Pacheco came to the rescue with another pair of threes to put the Knights down two entering the half. In the first three games of the season, UCF has trailed entering halftime.
“The [shots] right before the half, is where I really felt like I was getting into my groove,” Pacheco said.
Johnson sparked the scoring out of the break, hitting a three and assisting back-to-back Pacheco triples to give the Knights their first lead since the 15 minute mark of the first half. The duo would continue their scoring streak and built the lead to eight points.
“Our teammates and coaches count on us for certain things, and it’s just about showing up and being there ready to do whatever your team needs that night,” Johnson said.
Former Florida Gators guard Riley Kugel added to the advantage on a fast-break layup and a three, increasing the lead to a game-high 12 points. While the Panthers cut their deficit to six with six minutes to go, the Knights never let the lead get lower for the remainder of the contest.
UCF tied a school record with 38 three-point attempts and the second-most made triples with 17. The Knights only scored eight two-point field goals and eight points in the paint in the contest to the Panthers’ 19 makes and 36 points in the painted area.
Next up
UCF will host another Sun Belt team in the Georgia Southern Eagles on Friday. The Knights have won four-straight games against the Eagles dating back to 1985.
“It just takes time; you’re talking about winning 3 games, and with 3 exhibition games, it just takes time,” Dawkins said. “One at a time, get a little better every time you come out into some area. Keep growing together and it all works out because you’ve got one to do it. They want to win. Their culture will have no issues with any of these guys.”
Tip-off against Georgia Southern is set for 8 p.m. on 11/13.