ORLANDO — UCF capped the non-conference portion of its men’s basketball schedule and entered the holiday break with one of its most complete victories of the season to date.
Keyshawn Hall paced four starters in double figures with 21 points, and UCF (9-2) forced 18 turnovers while limiting visting Jacksonville to a 6-for-20 shooting performance behind the 3-point line in a 86-66 win Saturday night at Addition Financial Arena.
“I thought our guys did an excellent job of following the game plan,” Knights coach Johnny Dawkins said. “I thought we started the game off fast, something we had been attempting to do in recent weeks. I thought our guys got off to a good start, and I think it started defensively for us. We got some good stops, and we were turning it into offense.”
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Jordan Ivy-Curry sunk five triples to score 19 points, Darius Johnson added 12 points, six rebounds and five steals, and Moustapha Thiam contributed 10 points with three blocks. UCF has won five straight games since returning home just before Thanksgiving from the Greenbrier Tip-Off, where they lost neutral-site showcases against Wisconsin and LSU — the latter coming in triple overtime.
Preseason All-ASUN guard Robert McCray V had a team-high 18 points for Jacksonville (6-6). Enrico Borio made three of his 11 points off the bench on a buzzer-beater just before halftime.
Here are three takeaways from UCF’s final tune-up before a 20-game Big 12 grind.
Jaylin Sellers, Mikey Williams return from injury for season debuts
UCF will head to Texas Tech on New Year’s Eve as close to full strength as it has been all season.
Jaylin Sellers, last year’s leading scorer, and redshirt freshman guard Mikey Williams made their debuts after 10-game injury absences. Sellers sustained an unspecified back injury during a preseason exhibition against Florida Gulf Coast, and Williams missed time due to a left ankle injury.
Sellers checked in at the 12:56 mark of the first half and slammed home an alley-oop just 23 seconds later.
“It’s been a lot. Every day, constant massages, constantly going to the chiropractor, doing doctor’s checkups and doing treatment trying to tighten up my core,” Sellers said of his rehab process over the last two months. “And I’m still going through it every day, and I’m hoping that it keeps getting better.
“I wanted a play like that, and I got it. Keyshawn looked for me. I was happy that he was going to throw it up, and knew he was going to throw it up because we’ve did that in practice before. So I was happy to start it off like that. I can’t ask for nothing better, especially with the fans cheering me on when I first walked in. That almost got me a little emotional.”
Fans chanted “We want Mikey!” late in the second half, and the Memphis transfer entered with less than five minutes to play. He registered an assist, springing Rokas Jocius for a bucket off a pick-and-roll.
“Mikey, he’s a very talented guy, and I know he’s going to help us a lot this season,” Ivy-Curry said. “We really need him and are glad for him to be back.”
The only absent Knight was redshirt freshman forward JJ Taylor, whom Dawkins said had cold- and flu-like symptoms earlier in the week.
Keyshawn Hall works way to line, Moustapha Thiam in double figures again
UCF is one of the most productive teams in the country at the line. At the start of the week, the Knights ranked among the top-25 across Division I in attempts and made free throws.
Hall was emblematic of that persistence getting to the charity stripe Saturday, drawing eight fouls and sinking 10 of 11 free throws. He did not commit a foul, finishing with a plus-22 point differential.
“He gives us a three-level scorer,” Dawkins said. “He can knock down a three. Of course, he’s good in the mid-range. And, of course, he finishes around the basket. You couple that with the fact he draws fouls because he plays such a physical game, he just gives you a guy that you can go to in certain situations. And he’s a good playmaker for you from his position.”
Thiam, the 7-foot-2 Senegalese true freshman who attended Daytona Beach’s DME Academy, also continued his strong December surge. He logged 26 minutes and topped double digits for the fourth game running, going 4 of 4 from the field and displaying improved mid-range touch.
“I think he’s getting more comfortable with the pace of the game, and I think he’s getting more comfortable with the physicality of the game,” Dawkins said. “And that’s to be expected. He reclassed up. He’s young. But every time he steps onto the floor for a game or practice, he’s growing and he’s getting better from each one of those experiences. It may not always show in the numbers, but it shows for us.”
UCF, Jacksonville prepare for tough Big 12, ASUN openers
Both teams’ next contests will be their conference openers and quality litmus tests for their ability to contend among the upper echelon of their respective leagues.
UCF has a nearly 10-day layoff before a lengthy flight to Lubbock and a date with Texas Tech, which ran its non-conference home winning streak to 38 games Saturday in a 101-57 drubbing of Lamar. The Red Raiders are similarly 9-2 with a pair of neutral-site defeats — to St. Joseph’s and Texas A&M, whom the Knights upended 64-61 on Nov. 4.
UCF and Texas Tech split two head-to-head meetings last season, the Knights’ first go-round in the Big 12, with the home team achieving victory in both.
Meanwhile, Jacksonville welcomes ASUN preseason favorite Lipscomb to Swisher Gymnasium on Jan. 2. The Dolphins have alternated wins and losses in their last eight outings, while Lipscomb went 7-5 in non-conference play, including losses to nationally ranked Arkansas and Kentucky.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: UCF Knights basketball: 3 takeaways in win over Jacksonville
