GAME 12 • UCF VS ILLINOIS STATE Director, Strategic Communications: Daniel Forcella | Cell: (207) 650-6790 | Email: [email protected] Assistant Director, Strategic Communications: Kelly Cartner | Cell: (248) 978-5201 | Email: [email protected] GAME INFORMATION (-/rv) UCF KNIGHTS (9-2) Head Coach: Johnny Dawkins (Duke, 1986) Date .........................................................Friday, Dec. 21 Record at UCF: 52-27 (3rd Season) Time ................................................................. 7 p.m. ET Overall Record: 208-142 (11th Season) Site ............................................................Orlando, Fla. VS Stadium ...........................................................CFE Arena (7-5) Capacity ................................................................ 10,000 ILLINOIS STATE REDBIRDS : Dan Muller (Illinois State, 1998) TV ......................................................................ESPN3 Head Coach Record at Ill State: 129-85 (7th Season) Play-by-Play ................................. Bernie Guenther Overall Record: 129-85 (7th Season) Analyst ........................................... Mike O’Donnell Radio .....................................FM96.9/AM740 The Game Play-by-Play ....................................... Marc Daniels UCFACTS Analyst ................................................Taylor Young Twitter ......................................................... @UCF_MBB SETTING THE SCENE Hashtag.......................................................... #ChargeOn • The Knights have won three in a row after defeating Stetson on Sunday. • UCF is now 9-2 on the season and is off to its best start to a season since 2010-11. SCHEDULE/RESULTS • The game between the Knights and the Redbirds is the fourth of four straight home contests for UCF to conclude the non-conference slate. O29 Flagler& W, 86-69 • The Knights will also open up American Athletic Conference play at CFE Arena, hosting Temple N6 Rider ESPN3 W, 84-70 on Jan. 2 N11 FAU ESPN3 L, 80-79 N15 vs. Cal State Fullerton# ESPN3 W, 68-52 REMATCH WITH REDBIRDS N16 vs. Saint Joseph’s# ESPN2 W, 77-57 • Friday marks just the second ever meeting between the Knights and the Redbirds. • The first, however, was a classic. UCF went up to Normal, Ill., to take on top seeded Illinois State N18 vs. Western Kentucky# ESPN2 W, 78-62 in the second round of the NIT. N24 Northern Kentucky ESPN3 W, 66-53 • Down by as many as 18 points, the Knights charged back and won 63-62 to snap the Redbirds’ N29 Alabama ESPNU W, 70-64 22-game home winning streak and earn a spot in the NIT Quarterfinals. D2 at Missouri ESPNU L, 64-62 (ot) D8 Grambling ESPN3 W, 70-45 STRONG START D11 Georgia Southern ESPN3 W, 95-88 • At 9-2, the Knights are out to their best start to the season since 2010-11, and if it weren’t for a D16 Stetson ESPN3 W, 90-65 pair of buzzer-beaters, UCF would be 11-0. • The Black and Gold’s first loss was to FAU as an airball led to a buzzer-beating putback with no D21 Illinois State ESPN3 7 p.m. time on the clock. J2 Temple* ESPNews 7 p.m. • The team’s only other defeat was on the road at Missouri, who needed a three-pointer with no J5 at UConn* ESPNews 12 p.m. time left to send the game into overtime. J13 ECU* ESPNU 4 p.m. J16 at Wichita State* CBSSN 10 p.m. AWESOME AUBREY J19 Tulsa* ESPNU 12 p.m. • Aubrey has already been named the MVP of the Myrtle Beach Invitational and the American J23 at Tulane* ESPN3 8 p.m. Athletic Conference Player of the Week once this season. • He is currently second on the team and 15th in The American with 15.4 points per game. J27 at Memphis* CBSSN 4 p.m. • Dawkins is also second on the team and 15th in the league with 6.1 rebounds per game. J31 UConn* ESPN2/U 9 p.m. • His 87.5 percent mark from the free throw line leads the Knights and ranks fourth in the AAC. F7 Houston* CBSSN 7 p.m. • Dawkins has scored in double figures in each of his first 11 games as a Knight, the first player to F10 at SMU* ESPNews 2 p.m. do so in UCF’s Division I era. F13 S. Florida* ESPNews 7 p.m. • He also has two double-doubles, most recently going for 19 points and 13 rebounds in the win F16 Memphis* ESPN2/U 6 p.m. over Stetson. F21 at Cincinnati* ESPN/2 7 p.m. F24 SMU* CBSSN 12 p.m. F27 at S. Florida* ESPN3 7 p.m. A UCF WIN WOULD RECORD BREAKDOWN M2 at Houston* ESPN/2/U 4 p.m. M7 Cincinnati* ESPN/2 7 p.m. • Be better than a loss Overall ................................................... 9-2 • Give the Knights four straight wins M9 at Temple* ESPN2/News 4 p.m. The American ........................................0-0 M14 AAC First Round% TBD TBD • Be the second straight win over Illinois State Non-Conference ....................................9-2 M15 AAC Quarterfinals% TBD TBD after defeating the Redbirds in 2017 NIT M16 AAC Semifinals% TBD TBD • Give the Knights six straight wins at home Home ..................................................... 6-1 • Continue UCF’s best start to a season since M17 AAC Finals% TBD TBD Away ...................................................... 0-1 * American Athletic Conference contest starting 14-0 back in 2010-11 & Exhibition contest • Give the fans something to come back for Jan 2 Neutral................................................... 3-0 # Myrtle Beach Invitational % American Athletic Conference Tournament All times Eastern Twitter: @UCF_MBB | Instagram: UCF.MBB | Facebook: /UCFMensBasketball 1 2018-19 UCF GAME NOTES GAME 12 • UCF VS ILLINOIS STATE BY THE NUMBERS KNIGHT NOTES KNIGHTS REDBIRDS BIG SHOT BARRY • BJ Taylor has led UCF in scoring each of his three seasons on the court, including his 17.7 8 76.3 POINTS 77.1 points per game to start the 2018-19 campaign. 63.6 8 DEFENSE 77.8 • Taylor ranks fifth in The American in scoring after putting up a career-high 35 in the win against +12.6 8 MARGIN -0.7 Georgia Southern. • The Orlando native was named the Preseason Player of the Year and Preseason First Team All- 8 47.5 FG% 43.8 Conference in The American. 38.2 8 FG% DEFENSE 43.8 • With a knack of getting to the line, Taylor ranks sixth all-time at UCF with 341 free throws. 7.4 THREES 8 8.8 • He has been money from long range, currently ranking fifth in the league with a 41.8 three- point percentage. 37.0 8 3FG% 35.2 31.6 3FG% DEFENSE 8 30.8 TAYLOR ALREADY IN THE CLUB 63.1 FT% 8 71.8 • Taylor became the 19th player in UCF history to join the 1,000-Point Club when he achieved the feat Feb. 21, 2018 at Tulsa. 8 +5.3 REB MARGIN -2.5 • Taylor scored 1,000 points in just 66 games, believed to be the third fastest in UCF’s Division I 14.2 ASSISTS 8 15.2 history behind Ken Leeks (1988-92) and Darryl Davis (1991-95). • He now has 1,287 in his career, passing former teammate Matt Williams, Marcus Jordan and 11.2 8 TOS 12.6 most recently Dan Faison for 12th place in program history. 8 1.3 AST-TO 1.2 • Taylor needs just 89 more points to crack the UCF Top 10. 4.9 STEALS 8 5.4 5.6 8 BLOCKS 3.9 LIVING IN THE 90S • UCF has scored 90 or more points in each of its last two games, putting up 95 in the win over Georgia Southern and 90 in the victory over Stetson. SERIES INFORMATION • It marked the first time the Knights had put up 90 points in back-to-back games since the 2013-14 season. Overall: .............................................................UCF, 1-0 • The 95 points against Georgia Southern were the most ever for a Johnny Dawkins coached UCF team and the most by any Knights team since putting up 101 against Bethune-Cookman in Normal: ........................................................UCF, 1-0 on Dec. 22, 2015. in Orlando: ................................................................. -- FASTEST TO FIFTY at Neutral location: .................................................... -- • With the win over Grambling State, Johnny Dawkins eclipsed 50 victories as the head coach at Streak: ......................................................... UCF won 1 the University of Central Florida. Last meeting:........................... UCF 63, Illinois State 62 • He is the fastest head coach to 50 wins in UCF’s Division I era. • Dawkins has won 208 games in his career overall. ..............................................................March 20, 2017 Last Illinois State win: ................................................ -- DOMINATING DEFENSE • The Knights have been dominant on defense the last two seasons under Johnny Dawkins, .................................................................................... -- holding opponents to a combined 38.10 percent from the floor, which led the nation during that period. UCF and Illinois State have met one time in the all-time series • Only two teams in the nation were ranked in the top six in scoring defense in both 2016-17 between the two programs. and 2017-18, UCF and Virginia. • The Knights led the nation in defensive field goal percentage in 2016-17, holding opponents to 36.5 percent, and in 2017-18 they ranked ranked third in the nation in scoring defense at 61.7. It was two seasons ago in the National Invitation Tournament • Since Nov. 11, the Knights have given up more than 65 points just once and rank second in The that UCF defeated Illinois State, 63-62, to advance to the American in field goal percentage defense (38.2) and third in scoring defense (63.6). quarterfinals of the NIT. DAWKINS DOUBLE The Knights overcame an 18-point deficit and snapped Illinois • This season there is double the Dawkins for UCF, as Coach Dawkins’ son Aubrey is healthy and State’s 22-game home winning streak behind BJ Taylor’s 22 available to play for the 2018-19 campaign. points and two free throws to clinch it with one second to • A transfer from Michigan, where he started 22 games over two years, averaging 6.7 points per game, Dawkins sat out 2016-17 and then missed all of 2017-18 due to injury.