ORLANDO — Perhaps the UCF Knights tried to punch their NCAA Tournament ticket too soon.
Since returning from a successful two-game swing through Utah, including a top-25 road win over BYU, the Knights dropped a pair of expected gimmes at home — including an overtime thriller Tuesday, March 3, against Oklahoma State.
Anthony Roy led all scorers with 27 points, and the Cowboys erased a 13-point, first-half deficit to spoil the Knights’ senior night with a 111-104 win at Addition Financial Arena. Kanye Clary nailed a clutch 3-pointer with 1:12 to play in the extra period and four straight free throws to seal just the second win in the last eight outings for the visiting Cowboys (18-12, 6-11).
“Super disappointing,” said junior guard Chris Johnson, whose 3-pointer with 10.6 seconds left in regulation tied the score at 94 and eventually forced overtime. “Really wanted to pull this out for our seniors.”
UCF fell just short in its comeback bid against Baylor on Feb. 28, and could need to secure its place with either — or both — a victory in Friday’s finale at West Virginia or winning a round at next week’s Big 12 tournament in Kansas City, Mo.
Themus Fulks scored a team-high 22 points and added six assists to his single-season school record total. Riley Kugel tacked on 18 points, John Bol finished one rebound shy of a double-double (14 points, nine rebounds) while adding three blocks and the Knights got 28 points from their contributors off the bench.
Here are three takeaways from UCF’s latest disappointing defeat.
Elijah Hulsewe brings energy, helps UCF build early 23-10 lead
Backup center Jeremy Foumena wore a boot around his left foot following an awkward landing against Baylor, thrusting former walk-on Elijah Hulsewe into a larger role. The former Bethune-Cookman big man shined as the Knights built a 23-10 lead in the opening eight minutes.
Hulsewe scored six straight points, finishing with a season-high nine in nine minutes. He added four rebounds, pulling down three of the Knights’ 13 offensive boards.
“I thought Elijah gave us a good lift. He gave us good energy,” UCF coach Johnny Dawkins said. “He played hard. We always talk about guys being ready for their opportunities. I thought he was ready. He came in, and he was solid. That’s what you’ve got to have.”
Oklahoma State found its footing and outscored the Knights 35-17 to close the half. From the 9:03 mark onward, the Cowboys made 9 of their final 16 field goal attempts before heading into the break, including a trio of 3-pointers.
“Unfortunately, we have not done a great job of starting games. We missed three layups in the first five minutes — like point-blank layups,” Cowboys coach Steve Lutz said. “When you do that, you dig yourself into a little bit of a hole. But I credit the guys with their resolve and being able to fight their way out of it.”
UCF haunted by 12 missed free throws
Tuesday’s game was emblematic of the physicality often associated with Big 12 men’s basketball. The officiating crew called 27 fouls on Oklahoma State and 26 on UCF, resulting in 85 combined free throw attempts.
That includes a pair issued after a rare technical foul called against Dawkins for arguing a late call against starting forward Jamichael Stillwell in the second half.
“I’ve got to fight for my team,” Dawkins said. “I think the passion just got a little too high, and I got T’d up. I have no complaints.
“I was fighting for them during that segment, where there was a lot of contact on both ends.”
UCF could not take full advantage of the abundance of whistles. It missed 12 of 45 free throw attempts, five alone for the normally dependable Jordan Burks. Fulks missed an and-one possibility after giving UCF a 100-99 lead in overtime with a layup off glass.
Oklahoma State, meanwhile, made 32 of 40 shots at the line. Clary had the most costly miss for the Cowboys, keeping the score within one possession in the final minute and ultimately allowing Johnson to tie the game with a deep 3 from the left wing.
Big 12 seeding, 5th Quad 1 win at stake for UCF in West Virginia
UCF can earn a fifth Quad 1 win of the season if it can rebound on the road against West Virginia, which surprisingly fell 65-63 Tuesday against a Kansas State team without leading scorer PJ Haggerty in the lineup.
West Virginia, like Oklahoma State, can complete a home-and-home sweep of the Knights. The Mountaineers staged a 14-point comeback on Valentine’s Day at UCF’s expense.
In addition to assuring its March Madness invitation, UCF can potentially avoid a first-round date in the Big 12 tournament with a win. The top four seeds automatically advance to the quarterfinals, and the next four skip ahead to the second round.
UCF, as of late Tuesday, sat seventh in the standings at one game over .500. It has not achieved a winning record in conference play since joining in 2023-24.
“You want to finish as high as you can,” Dawkins said. “Getting a bye would be a great goal for us to have. We’re looking at just wanting to win games. We’ve now lost back-to-back games, and we want to get back on the right track.”
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: UCF basketball falls to struggling Oklahoma State in home finale
Reporting by Chris Boyle, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
