LAKE BUENA VISTA — Rallying from a 14-point, first-half deficit, the UCF Knights will roll into 2026, and their anticipated Big 12 home opener with Kansas, on a 10-game winning streak.
Themus Fulks led all players with 24 points and 12 assists, and John Bol notched his first career double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds as the Knights (11-1) defeated Florida Atlantic 85-80 in the Holiday Festiball at ESPN’s Wide World of Sports Complex.
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UCF opened the second half on an 11-0 run and scored 16 of the period’s first 20 points overall to reclaim a lead it would not relinquish over the final 18½ minutes. The Knights shot 49.2% from the field, scored 23 points off the fastbreak and held FAU (8-5) to a 2-for-12 shooting performance on 3-pointers in the second half.
“A lot of guys stepped up,” UCF coach Johnny Dawkins said. “Themus did a great job for us throughout the night in leading our team. He did a really good job of finding guys who were open. And of course, offensively, he did a great job of taking his shots when he had them.
“I thought John Bol gave us a huge lift. He got us multiple plays, offensive rebounds, kept balls alive for us and defended well around the paint. And then Riley (Kugel), I thought, in the second half started to come alive and get back to how he had been playing in the first part of the season for us.”
Kugel made his first 3-point field goals since Nov. 25 and finished with 18 points. He iced UCF’s victory in the final seconds with a pair of free throws, followed by a transition dunk after a Fulks steal.
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Here are three takeaways from the Knights’ non-conference finale at Walt Disney World.
UCF flips fortunes in opening 3 minutes of 2nd half
UCF’s Themus Fulks (1) dribbles the ball down the court during the basketball game against Pittsburgh, Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025 at the Ocean Center.
Isaiah Elohim sent Florida Atlantic into halftime with a five-point lead with a buzzer-beating 3 over the outstretched arm of 7-foot-2 sophomore Bol. But the Knights seized momentum after the break, putting together a critical 11-0 run.
Jordan Burks tracked down the rebound of Kugel’s missed free throw, and found Fulks for a stepback 3. Thirty seconds later, Fulks repaid the favor and hit Burks in stride for a transition jam.
Kugel forced Owls coach John Jakus to burn a timeout when he created space with a crossover and nailed a quick 3 from the right wing. The Orlando native missed all 13 of his long-range attempts across the Knights’ previous four games.
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Fulks finished the run with a driving layup. The fifth-year senior guard went 9 of 14 from the field and a perfect 5 of 5 at the free throw line, in addition to topping double digits in assists for the third time.
“They had five guys in double figures, and I don’t know how consistently that would have happened last year. And that’s predominantly because Fulks has a real understanding of how to get guys shots,” Jakus said.
FAU leading scorer Devin Vanterpool scratched from lineup
Memphis’ PJ Haggerty (4) drives to the basket as FAU’s Devin Vanterpool (22) guards him during the game between Florida Atlantic University and the University of Memphis at FedExForum in Memphis, Tenn., on Sunday, February 23, 2025.
Devin Vanterpool, Florida Atlantic’s longest-tenured player and leading scorer, was scratched from the starting lineup before Tuesday’s tipoff. The redshirt sophomore guard started each of the Owls’ first 12 games, providing 16.7 points, 7 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game.
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The Owls’ frontcourt pairing of Xander Pintelon and Devin Williams created problems for UCF in the first half with their abilities to stretch the floor at the offensive end and protect the paint on defense. Pintelon had 20 points, including a 4-of-8 shooting clip from beyond the arc, with two blocks. Williams rejected four shots while contributing 13 points and six rebounds.
“We were trying to be very deliberate with our moves in the paint, not put ourselves in position where we could make easy for them to come over and challenge,” Dawkins said. “I think our guys learned it quick when they went in there and (the ball) kept getting swatted out. We learned the lesson the hard way some. We talked about in the scouting, but I think they had to see for themselves.”
UCF shot the ball more efficiently in the first half, but 3-pointers swung the lead in FAU’s favor. The Owls sank seven of their 18 attempts over the game’s opening 20 minutes, while UCF struggled to a 2-for-9 mark.
Massive challenges lie ahead for UCF in Big 12 schedule
Jan 5, 2025; Orlando, Florida, USA; UCF Knights head coach Johnny Dawkins looks on during the first half against the Kansas Jayhawks at Addition Financial Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mike Watters-Imagn Images
Dawkins said his players will depart for a four-day holiday break and return Dec. 28 to begin preparations for Kansas. UCF’s first two home meetings with the Jayhawks ended in memorable fashion, one in glorious, court-storming victory and the other in record-setting humiliation.
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Playing just their second league game on Jan. 10, 2024, UCF stunned the nation’s No. 3 team 65-60 by forcing 18 turnovers and blocking seven shots. Kansas remains the highest-ranked opponent UCF has ever defeated in men’s basketball, overtaking a 2011 neutral-site win over No. 4 Connecticut at the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas.
Nearly a full year later, Kansas got its revenge — and then some. Hunter Dickinson led five players in double figures with 27 points, nine rebounds and three blocks as the Jayhawks romped to a 99-48 win. UCF suffered its heaviest home defeat in program history, and its joint second-largest loss overall, matching a 51-point thrashing at the hands of Florida from 1984.
Kansas (10-3) clobbered Davidson 90-61 on Monday, Dec. 22, for its fourth consecutive win. Fellow basketball bluebloods North Carolina, Duke and UConn are the only teams to get the better of the Jayhawks thus far; they are ranked No. 17 in the most recent USA TODAY Coaches Poll.
Freshman sensation Darryn Peterson, a projected top-three NBA draft pick, missed his ninth game due to injury, and his status will be a major question for Kansas at the start of Big 12 play. UCF, meanwhile, has avoided injury to this point, rolling out the same starting five for all 10 games of their winning streak.
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Kansas is the tip of the iceberg of what lies ahead for UCF. The Big 12 features six nationally ranked teams, three of whom the Knights will welcome to Addition Financial Arena next month — the Jayhawks, Arizona and Texas Tech.
There are also road trips planned against three current top-10 squads between now and February: Iowa State, Houston and BYU.
If UCF can survive the rigorous 18-game slate, and knock off a few of the league’s heavyweights, it will have a strong chance to return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019. Prior to Tuesday’s game, the Knights were No. 33 in the NET rankings, boosted by a Quad 1 road win over Texas A&M.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: UCF Knights basketball: 3 takeaways in win over Florida Atlantic
