UCF, TCU eye win to break out of Big 12 logjam

Field Level Media|published: Fri 24th January, 21:22 2025

NCAA Basketball: Houston at Central Florida

Jan 18, 2025; Orlando, Florida, USA; UCF Knights guard Darius Johnson (3) shoots a three point basket against Houston Cougars forward J'Wan Roberts (13) during the second half at Addition Financial Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mike Watters-Imagn Images

A pair of Big 12 teams battling to stay within the top half of the conference standings square off Saturday when UCF hosts TCU in Orlando, Fla.

The Knights (12-6, 3-4 Big 12) and Horned Frogs (10-8, 3-4) entered Friday in a four-way tie for eighth place with BYU and Utah. UCF aims to break a two-game skid, while TCU comes off Wednesday's 74-61 home setback to No. 12 Kansas.

Darius Johnson contributed a career-high 33 points and nine rebounds to power UCF's 79-77 win at TCU in the 2023-24 regular-season finale. Johnson is currently UCF's third-leading scorer at 14.4 points per game, and the senior guard needs two steals to move into second place on the program's all-time career list.

The Knights shot 45.8 percent (11 of 24) from 3-point range during Tuesday's 108-83 loss at No. 3 Iowa State. It marked the fourth time an opponent topped 90 points this season against UCF, which is allowing 87.1 points per game in Big 12 play.

"(Iowa State coach) T.J. (Otzelberger) does a great job with his group," UCF coach Johnny Dawkins said. "He's done a great job ever since he's been here, and we have to keep on developing our guys and keep on getting better as we move through conference play."

TCU alternated wins and losses over its last eight games, and coach Jamie Dixon's team had an up-and-down performance against Kansas as well.

The Horned Frogs were up as many as 14 points in the first half before holding a two-point advantage at the break. They were outscored 41-26 in the second half after being 7-0 this season when leading at halftime.

Saturday will be a homecoming of sorts for TCU's Ernest Udeh Jr. The junior center, who tied a career high of five steals against Kansas, attended Dr. Phillips High in Orlando.

"We got a big one coming up," Udeh said postgame Wednesday. "(It's) back to the drawing board, watching film, looking at the things that we did well, but also the things that we did wrong that led to us losing (the lead) and getting that deficit."

--Field Level Media