UCF rally falls short in overtime exhibition loss to No. 23 Kentucky
· Yahoo Sports
UCF’s Johnny Dawkins wanted his Knights to get an early feel for what it means to play on the road against top competition this season. So the longtime coach booked an exhibition road game against Kentucky, hoping to give his team a barometer before the season started.
Dawkins got his wish.
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Dior Johnson scored 22 points — 13 in the second half — to help UCF rally from 10 points down before eventually losing in overtime to No. 23 Kentucky, 90-76 at Rupp Arena on Wednesday.
The Wildcats, ranked in both the Associated Press and coaches’ polls, are coming off a 22-14 season that took them to the second round of the NCAA tournament.
This was the second time that UCF has played at Rupp Arena, having lost to Kentucky 59-57 on Jan. 3, 2006.
Isaiah Malone scored 14 points, Riley Kugel 12, and Arturo Dean 10 for the Knights.
Milan Momcilovic led four Wildcats in double figures with 19 points, Mason Williams had 18, Malachi Moreno had 16 and Alex Wilkins had 12.
UCF trailed most of the game before Johnson tied it at 63 on a pair of free throws with 4:04 left. Kugel’s jumper gave the Knights their first lead on the next possession with 3:15 left.
After Kentucky tied it at 65, Johnson was fouled on a layup and his subsequent free throw extended the advantage to 68-65 with 2:09 left. Moreno’s dunk cut the lead to 68-67 and the Wildcats re-took the lead with a pair of free throws by Momcilovic, 69-68.
Arturo Dean’s two free throws with 26.5 seconds left gave UCF a 70-69 lead.
Malone added a free throw to make it 71-69 with 5 seconds left, but Alex Wilkins’ buzzer-beating floater sent the game into overtime.
Kentucky went on a 12-1 run in overtime to cruise to the victory.
Dawkins, who was making his first trip to Rupp Arena, discussed the importance of facing a blue-blood program like Kentucky on Sunday.
“I’m so excited for our guys to be in that environment, for us to have a chance to go play,” Dawkins said. “I’m sure they’ll have a sold-out crowd for the game and to put our guys in front of that type of crowd and that type of team … we’re going to learn a lot about our guys.
“We did the same thing last year at Duke and we wanted to replicate that again this year and try to find a team that we felt had that type of tradition. Kentucky, of course, has that type of tradition as well. So, I’m looking forward to seeing how we respond to that type of adversity, being on the road, that type of team.”
It’s the last of three exhibition games for the Knights, who previously faced LSU and Rollins College.
UCF opens the season by hosting Florida Gulf Coast University at Addition Financial Arena on Monday (7:30 p.m., ESPN+).
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