Rested UCF ready to take on Tarleton State

UCF concludes a two-game stretch against Western Athletic Conference opponents when it hosts Tarleton State on Sunday afternoon.

The Knights (6-2) and Texans (3-7) will play for just the second time. The Texans, who completed reclassification to Division I from Division II in 2020, dropped a 75-49 road decision to the Knights in December 2022.

UCF tipped off the December portion of its schedule last Sunday, defeating WAC member California Baptist 74-59. Darius Johnson tied his career high with seven steals, while the Knights extended their streak of consecutive nonconference regular-season home wins to nine.

Johnson, who reached 1,000 career points at UCF on Nov. 19 against Tennessee Tech, continues to be one of the team's catalysts.

The senior guard poured in a season-high 28 points against Milwaukee on Nov. 27, punctuated by a career-high eight 3-pointers. Johnson averages a team-leading 16.1 points across eight contests.

With one week separating the California Baptist and Tarleton State matchups, Knights coach Johnny Dawkins looked to capitalize on the additional practice time.

"It gives us an opportunity to work on ourselves a little this week," Dawkins said. "A lot of times you start playing in the season, and I like to play games because it keeps you in rhythm, but the one thing that's difficult is really locking in on some things that we have to improve on."

Tarleton State posted a 40-point home win over Dallas Christian on Dec. 3. Bubu Benjamin had a career-high 29 points on 11-of-14 shooting in a 90-50 victory. He leads the Texans with 17.6 points per game and is tied for the team lead with 5.1 rebounds per game.

The Texans are 0-4 in true road games, all against Power Four schools: SMU (Atlantic Coast Conference), Florida State (ACC), No. 15 Baylor (Big 12) and Michigan (Big Ten).

"It will be another Big 12 team on their home court," Texans coach Billy Gillispie said of the Orlando trip. "Those are definite challenges, and we would have to improve dramatically to be where we want to be when the game's on the line."

--Field Level Media