There wasn’t much for UCF basketball fans to cheer about on Saturday as the Knights ran into perhaps one of the best shooting teams in the country. Vanderbilt cruised to a 105-93 win at Addition Financial Arena.
The Commodores shot an impressive 61% from the floor in the first half, connecting on 10 three-pointers as they built a 19-point lead. They extended that lead to as many as 27 points in the second half before UCF cut it to 9, but the Knights were never able to get any closer.
UCF (1-1) opened the season with an 82-78 win over Hofstra on Monday night but had no answers for Vanderbilt’s offense.
“We gave up 105 points tonight and that’s not who we want to be as a team,” said coach Johnny Dawkins. “They’re a high-scoring team, we knew that, but our defense has got to be better.”
Both teams started red-hot from the floor, combining to hit 9 of their first 11 shots as Vanderbilt jumped out to a 12-11 lead by the first media timeout at the 15:54 mark.
Riley Kugel opened the game by hitting two of UCF’s first four shots, including a 3-pointer, to lead the team with 5 early points. But the Knights went through a stretch of nearly three minutes without a point, missing four straight shots before a Jordan Beale layup helped UCF take a 15-14 lead.
That lead was short-lived, however, as Tyler Harris connected on a 23-footer to give the Commodores a 17-15 advantage. The lead grew to 24-15 as the Knights continued to struggle from the field, missing their next four shots. UCF managed just 2 points over a four-minute stretch that allowed Vanderbilt to build its largest lead.
A Kugel 3-pointer from the top of the key ended the scoreless streak, but little else went right for the Knights as the Commodores went on an 18-6 run to lead 32-21 with 6:18 left in the first half.
Whenever UCF would make a run, Vanderbilt responded with a 3-pointer. The Commodores connected on 10 of 18 shots from beyond the arc in the first half, while the Knights were just 5 of 8. Kugel was 4 of 4 on 3-pointers in the half.
Vanderbilt cruised to a 52-36 halftime advantage.
“At times, we played at an extremely high level in the first half—the way we shot the ball, the way we passed—and that momentum helped us on defense,” said Vanderbilt coach Mark Byington.
Vanderbilt picked up right where it left off in the first half, going on an 8-0 run to open the second half and forcing Dawkins to burn an early timeout. At one point, UCF trailed by as many as 27 points.
UCF went on a 12-2 run with about six minutes left to cut the Vanderbilt advantage to single digits at 84-75, but the Commodores went on another run, putting the game out of reach.
Kugel finished with a team-high 25 points, while Chris Johnson had 17 and Jamichael Stillwell added 15.
“We just talked about it and it all starts with positive energy,” said Kugel. “We’ve got a couple of screws to fix, but we will bounce back.”
Duke Miles led four Vanderbilt players in double digits with 20 points. The Commodores (2-0) were coming off a 105-61 win over Lipscomb.
UCF returns to the court on Tuesday when the Knights host Florida A&M. Tipoff is at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.
https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2025/11/08/ucf-knights-host-vanderbilt-commodores-mens-basketball/