Jordan Ivy-Curry stars as UCF edges Colorado

Field Level Media|published: Wed 8th January, 22:12 2025

NCAA Basketball: Kansas at Central Florida

Jan 5, 2025; Orlando, Florida, USA; UCF Knights head coach Johnny Dawkins looks on during the first half against the Kansas Jayhawks at Addition Financial Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mike Watters-Imagn Images

Jordan Ivy-Curry tied his season high with 22 points and UCF successfully rebounded from a 51-point loss in its previous outing to help rally past Colorado for a 75-74 victory in Big 12 play on Wednesday night in Orlando.

UCF (11-3, 2-1 Big 12) shook off Sunday's 99-48 home setback to then-No. 7 Kansas by overcoming a 10-point, second-half deficit. Dallan Coleman made one of two free throws with 33.5 seconds left to give UCF the one-point lead. After Colorado used its final timeout, Julian Hammond III came up short on an off-balance 3-pointer.

The Buffaloes (9-5, 0-3) got one final opportunity when UCF was called for a five-second violation with four seconds to go. Colorado inbounded the ball to Elijah Malone near the UCF basket, but Keyshawn Hall was credited with blocking his shot and time expired.

UCF overcame Hammond's career-best 26 points -- 16 coming in the second half -- as Ivy-Curry went 7-of-13 shooting with four triples. Hall overcame foul trouble to post 18 points and seven rebounds and Darius Johnson added 17 points and four steals in the first-ever conference meeting between the two schools.

Colorado, which started a conference season 0-3 for the first time since 2016-17 when the Buffaloes were in the Pac-12, received 16 points from Andrej Jakimovski. Bangot Dak came off the bench to score 10 points.

Colorado made seven of its opening eight shots in the second half. Jakimovski's fourth 3-pointer gave the Buffaloes a 53-44 advantage with 15:19 left and helped the 6-foot-8 graduate transfer reach 1,000 points for his college career.

Trailing 56-46, UCF went on a 14-2 run for a 60-58 lead with 8:32 remaining.

The Knights missed their first 10 shot attempts and trailed 6-0 at the first media timeout, but Ivy-Curry hit two 3-pointers and scored 10 points to spark a 15-5 run.

Colorado rallied to take a 37-34 lead into halftime. The Buffaloes not only shot 50 percent (10 of 20) from the floor in the opening half, but they made a living at the free-throw line (14 of 18) with Assane Diop hitting 7 of 8.

--Field Level Media