ORLANDO — The UCF Knights kicked off the 2025-26 season with a victory, outlasting Hofstra on Monday, 82-78.
From tipoff, UCF coach Johnny Dawkins and Co. had their hands full, as Hofstra utilized an aggressive brand of basketball that put the Knights behind seven points early. UCF was able to gain the lead thanks to five first half threes by Riley Kugel, but its struggles from the free throw line in the first 20 minutes of play (5-13) allowed the Pride to stick around. By the break, the Knights only
led 36-32.
“You know, we can take a lot of good from this,” said Knights guard Themus Fulks after contributing 16 points and eight assists. “And we can take the bad as well. But we’re still trying to get better as a team.”
The Knights were able to extend their lead to eight points to begin the second half before a driving layup and 3-pointer from Biggie Patterson and German Plotnikov brought Hofstra back within three. The Pride also kept Kugel in check, limiting him to four points after he notched 15 in the first period.
The elimination of Kugel’s scoring left much of the offensive burden to Fulks and forward Jordan Burks, as the pair combined for 25 of UCF’s 46 second half points.
“I just try to just be calm as I can throughout the game,” Fulks said. ‘Try to be even keel and just try to help my teammates as much as I can.”
Even though Fulks and Burks were able to assume most fo the scoring duties, they are still getting used to playing with one another, a challenge made evident by turnovers in place of an attempt at initiating plays between one another.
“Me and JB was talking. I was like, Hey, bro, like you’re juking me out,” Fulks added.
“Like, you’re either gonna cut or you’re gonna stay in the corner. And that’s just little things, just playing together. We’ve been playing together since the summer, but it’s different in the game. So I think that we’re gonna get more comfortable with each other, and our turnovers are gonna come down, and we’re gonna keep turning other teams over.”
The Knights seemed to be pulling away late after a pair of Fulks free throws and a Devan Cambridge 3-pointer put them ahead 79-71 with 03:25 remaining, but Hofstra capitalized on its own small run to cut the lead to 81-78 with 45 seconds left.
In the waning moments, Cambridge came down hard upon recovering an offensive rebound following a missed jumper by Jamichael Stillwell, putting him at the line for two free throws. However, Cambridge missed both attempts but was bailed out by Burks who corralled the rebound before getting the ball to Fulks.
Fulks split the pair of free throws, putting UCF up four and sealing the victory.
“Shots might not always fall, but if you can get to the free throw line, those are easy buckets,” Fulks said, who went 9-10 from the line in the second half.
“I thought our guys performed well,” Dawkins said. “I thought they showed a lot of grit because I want to give Hofstra a lot of credit. I mean, I thought they came in; they played a tough, physical brand of basketball.
“I thought they ran the system very well. And so, our guys had to really respond, and I thought they did. You know, every time we got a lead, you know, they were able to, you know, come back. regain the lead, make plays against us.”
Dawkins was also pleased with UCF’s ability to knock down timely free throws.
“To be in those situations where our guys had to go up there time and time again and step up, it’s only gonna help their confidence and help us understand what they’re capable of doing out there.
Before the season began, Dawkins pushed the roster to develop resilience, which was on display Monday night.
“They’ve shown that type of resilience, and that’s what you have to have.”
The Knights will return to Addition Financial Arena on Saturday to host Vanderbilt at 4 p.m. ET.
