KU Jayhawks vs. UCF Knights at Big 12 Tournament: Probable starters, tipoff time, TV
Kansas, which went 2-0 versus UCF during the 2024-25 Big 12 regular season, will meet the Knights in a second-round Big 12 Tournament game Wednesday night at T-Mobile Center.
Here’s everything you need to know before tipoff...
Kansas-UCF game details
When: 8:30 p.m., Wednesday
Where: T-Mobile Center (Kansas City)
TV: ESPN2
Radio: WHB (810) in Kansas City; ESPN Wichita (92.3 FM) in Wichita
Betting line: Kansas by 10.5 (game prediction)
PROBABLE STARTERS
P | No. | Kansas | Ht. | Yr. | PPG |
F | 24 | KJ Adams | 6-7 | Sr. | 9.1 |
C | 1 | Hunter Dickinson | 7-2 | Sr. | 17.4 |
G | 5 | Zeke Mayo | 6-4 | Sr. | 14.0 |
G | 3 | Dajuan Harris | 6-2 | Sr. | 9.1 |
G | 6 | Rylan Griffen | 6-6 | Jr. | 6.8 |
P | No. | UCF | Ht. | Yr. | PPG |
F/G | 4 | Keyshawn Hall | 6-7 | Jr. | 18.6 |
C | 52 | Moustapha Thiam | 7-2 | Fr. | 10.4 |
G | 6 | Dallan Coleman | 6-6 | Sr. | 5.1 |
G | 3 | Darius Johnson | 6-1 | Sr. | 16.6 |
G | 22 | Nils Machowski | 6-3 | Soph. | 2.6 |
About Kansas (20-11, 11-9 Big 12 regular season)
KU leads the all-time series 2-1, both wins coming this season. KU first stormed to a 99-48 victory over UCF on Jan. 5 at Addition Financial Arena in Orlando. ...
Hunter Dickinson scored 27 points and grabbed nine rebounds. Rylan Griffen was 4-for-4 from 3 and scored 14 points. Flory Bidunga hit 6 of 8 shots and scored 12 points, while Dajuan Harris and AJ Storr each had 11 points. Keyshawn Hall scored 12 points on 4-of-17 shooting for UCF … KU edged the Knights 91-87 on Jan. 28, at Allen Fieldhouse. Dickinson had 24 points and seven rebounds while Zeke Mayo hit six 3s and scored 24 points. David Coit and KJ Adams had 12 points apiece. UCF’s Hall scored 34 points on 9-of-19 shooting. He was 11-of-11 from the line. Darius Johnson hit five 3s and scored 19 points. UCF hit 14 3s in 36 tries; KU was 10-of-21 from 3. …
UCF during the 2023-24 season defeated KU 65-60 on Jan. 10, 2024 in Orlando. … KU has won 15 postseason league tourney titles, including 11 in the Big 12 era. KU (11), Iowa State (5), Oklahoma State (2) are active league members with Big 12 tournament titles. ... Since the Big 12’s inception in 1996-97, Kansas is 49-14 in the league tournament. KU is 1-1 in opening round games, 22-3 in the quarterfinals, 15-6 in semifinals and 11-3 in the finals. KU’s 2018 title and three wins were later vacated. …
Kansas in the regular season led the Big 12 in assists per game (17.6, seventh nationally) and blocked shots per game (4.8, 27th nationally). KU finished second in the league in field goal percentage defense (39.3%, 10th nationally), assist-to-turnover ratio (1.53, second nationally) and 3-point field goal percentage defense (30.1%, 19th nationally). ... Kansas has won 20 games for 35 of the last 36 seasons dating to 1989-90 (KU had 16 wins in 2017-18 with 15 vacated because of NCAA sanctions). … KU is 4-4 vs. ranked teams. ...
About UCF (17-15, 8-13)
UCF defeated Utah 87-72 on Tuesday in a first-round Big 12 tourney game at T-Mobile Center. Hall scored 23 points on 5-of-10 shooting (1-of-3 from 3 and 12-of-14 from the free throw line). Johnson scored 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting (2-of-5 from 3). Both Hall and Johnson had five assists. ... UCF also beat Utah 76-72 on Feb. 23 in Orlando. …
Hall, who also has played at UNLV and George Mason, was named all-Big 12 second team and all-newcomer team while Johnson was selected all-Big 12 honorable mention for the second straight year. … Hall is UCF’s first player to be named to the first, second or third team in the Knights’ time in the Big 12 and first to be named to one of those teams since Taylor Hendricks was named all-American Athletic Conference second team in 2022-23. …
Johnson had seven steals against California Baptist (Dec. 1) and seven in the regular season finale against West Virginia. … Johnson went 8-for-10 from 3 against Milwaukee. He hit seven 3s and scored 36 points in a 83-70 Senior Day victory over Oklahoma State on March 8. ... Johnson had two steals on Tuesday, giving him 74 steals, one more than his own UCF record of steals in a year at 73, achieved last season. ... Johnson has made hitting 40.9% of his 3s, improving on his 39.4% from last season, which was a 12.5% improvement over his sophomore season. …
Hall led the Big 12 in scoring during conference play at 20.3 ppg. … Moustapha Thiam ranks sixth in the country in blocked shots with 74 or 2.6 per game.
