Perhaps it’s a tad premature, with three regular-season games and an entire Big 12 men’s basketball tournament still ahead, but UCF might well have punched its ticket to the Big Dance with a late-night blowout of No. 23 BYU on Tuesday, Feb. 24.
The Knights scored a season-best 52 first-half points, going 11 of 16 from 3-point range, to put BYU in its largest halftime hole in four years. They rolled from there, notching an 97-84 signature road win at the Marriott Center in Provo, Utah.
UCF (20-7, 9-6 Big 12) led by as many as 36 as it snapped a 12-game road losing streak against ranked opponents. Prior to Tuesday night, its last win over a top-25 team away from home occurred Dec. 19, 2020 — an 86-74 triumph over then-No. 15 Florida State.
“I thought we got off to a terrific start. The guys were really dialed in,” UCF coach Johnny Dawkins said. “I’m just proud of the effort they gave for the full 40 minutes. This is a very, very difficult place to play in, to win in, and I thought our guys held their composure and played really well throughout most of the game.”
The Knights, picked to finish 14th among the conference’s 16 teams in the preseason poll, notched their fifth Quad 1 win of the year. They have four road victories within the league in 2025-26, one fewer than their previous two seasons combined.
YEAHHHHH | @Coach_Dawkinspic.twitter.com/ITDcfvtjIv
— UCF Men’s Hoops 🌴 (@UCF_MBB) February 25, 2026
And they did so Tuesday without the services of senior guard Riley Kugel, tied for the team lead in scoring at 14 points per game on a career-best 38.1% 3-point shooting.
Themus Fulks and Jordan Burks shared the team lead with 24 points apiece, a career-high for the latter. Fulks added 11 of the Knights’ 25 assists, breaking the season’s single-season record set by Sinua Phillips in 1991-92.
AJ Dybantsa, the nation’s leading scorer, had 29 points for BYU (20-8, 8-7) — 19 coming in the second half and nine in the final 1:18 of regulation. The Cougars shot 31.4% from the floor before halftime, including a 3-for-11 clip from 3-point range, and committed seven of their nine turnovers.
Here are three takeaways from a result that all but secured UCF’s spot in the NCAA Tournament.
Jamichael Stillwell helped off floor with lower right leg injury
An unfortunate, late injury to one of UCF’s most important players soured an otherwise perfect evening.
Jamichael Stillwell needed to be helped off, unable to put any weight on his right leg after writhing on the court with 4:49 left in regulation. The 6-foot-8 senior forward darted to deflect the ball back out to Carmelo Pacheco after a blocked 3-pointer and had his foot stepped on by Aleksej Kostić.
Two assistant coaches helped Stillwell down the tunnel toward the visitors’ locker room. He returned several minutes later wearing a boot around his right foot.
.@UCF_MBB forward Jamichael Stillwell is back on the bench.
He is wearing a boot on his right foot. pic.twitter.com/hwPS4d9YBa
— Bryson Turner (@itsBrysonTurner) February 25, 2026
Prior to the injury, Stillwell dominated at both ends of the floor, often matching up with Dybantsa, the potential No. 1 NBA draft pick. He recorded his seventh double-double of the year, scoring 12 points with 12 rebounds and adding six assists.
Three of UCF’s seven losses this season have come in the games where Stillwell did not start — Vanderbilt, Iowa State and West Virginia.
“I need to wait and talk to the trainer to see where he is and the severity of it,” Dawkins said. “Right now, I’m sure he probably will be day-to-day depending on how his ankle’s feeling, and we’ll move on from there.”
UCF buries BYU with 3-point shooting clinic
Stillwell and Chris Johnson punctuated a 14-4 opening run with 3-pointers, but Burks — as he did against TCU a week ago — set the tone for the night with his shooting.
The 6-foot-9 junior knocked down 3s on three consecutive trips down the floor, including a pair from the left corner in transition to extend the Knights’ lead to 15 just over 5½ minutes into the game.
“Teammates were just finding the open guys, me included,” Burks said. “We just played UCF basketball, sharing the ball and making the right plays.”
Carmelo Pacheco added a pair off the bench, launching a deep 3 from the left wing and converting a later catch-and-shoot when spotted alone in the corner by Stillwell for a cross-court pass. Fulks added the final pair of the half, establishing a 24-point lead headed into the intermission.
nice https://t.co/2YjsLYdIb2pic.twitter.com/u1855Nzr6J
— UCF Men’s Hoops 🌴 (@UCF_MBB) February 25, 2026
UCF’s 11 triples and 68.8% shooting percentage are season bests for a first half. The Knights finished one point shy of the highest-scoring half of Dawkins’ tenure as head coach; UCF put 53 on Mississippi State on Nov. 17, 2016.
And the Knights came out of halftime with similar ruthlessness, opening on a 12-0 run highlighted by a couple of John Bol dunks. George Beale Jr. nearly equalized a 7-0 mini-run for BYU with a pair of 3s, keeping his team ahead by 35.
“We knew they weren’t going anywhere,” Dawkins said. “Too good of a program. Kevin (Young)’s too good of a coach. We knew they were going to be there, so we had to make sure we matched that to start the second half.”
UCF gets 2 of final 3 Big 12 regular-season games at home
There are no easy games in the Big 12, of course, but UCF has a comparatively favorable schedule to finish the campaign.
The Knights get their next two at home against opponents in the bottom five of the league standings, Baylor and Oklahoma State. Underestimation is ill-advised; Baylor has two potential NBA draft picks in Cameron Carr and Tounde Yessoufou, and Oklahoma State handed the Knights an 11-point defeat in Stillwater on Jan. 6.
Still, those two teams have a combined record of 9-21 in Big 12 play — and a 3-12 mark on the road.
UCF closes with a return trip to West Virginia, against whom it surrendered a 14-point lead on Valentine’s Day for a 74-67 defeat. The Mountaineers have lost three in a row since then, failing to crack 60 points against both Utah and TCU.
Entering Tuesday, West Virginia sat No. 63 in the NCAA’s NET rankings, meaning the Knights could get credit for yet another Quad 1 win if they prevail in Morgantown.
“Every one of these games counts the same,” Dawkins said. “We need to make sure we enjoy (the win over BYU), but then we need to move forward, understanding that it’s all about our preparation for our next opponent.”
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: UCF Knights basketball: 3 takeaways from upset win at BYU