<\/p>\n
During a break at the Addition\u00a0Financial\u00a0Arena on Jan. 2 against the University of Kansas, head coach Johnny Dawkins sits at the head of the circle next to senior guard Riley Kugel (2) and leads the team for the next play.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Aryah Britt <\/p>\n
An entirely new group of players became Knights for the UCF men\u2019s basketball 2025-26 season with a common goal:\u00a0to win.<\/p>\n
What could have been a rebuilding year instead became a defining one. The 2024-25 season ended with a 20-17 finish and a 7-13 mark in conference play.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Since then, UCF surged to a 21-12 record, finishing 9-9 in conference play. This broke UCF’s program record of most wins against Big 12 opponents in a single season, according to UCF Athletics<\/a>.<\/p>\n The team launched UCF’s men’s basketball program back to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in seven years as a No. 10 seed, marking the program’s second-highest at-large bid.\u00a0<\/p>\n Head coach Johnny Dawkins<\/a>, who earned recognition for the Jim Phelan National Coach of the Year, approached the season with an emphasis on taking each matchup one game at a time.<\/p>\n \u201cAll we can control is our preparation for what we\u2019re going to play next and then move forward from there,\u201d Dawkins said in the postgame press conference on Feb. 17 after defeating TCU.<\/p>\n According to UCF Athletics<\/a>, the Knights scored an average of over 80 points per game\u00a0\u2014 the highest under head coach Dawkins in the program\u2019s Division I era\u00a0\u2014 and broke a single-game record with 19 three-pointers.<\/p>\n Dawkins told reporters on Feb. 27 at a media availability that the reflection of the team\u2019s success has more to do with the coaching staff and players than him.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI have a terrific staff; those guys have done an amazing job evaluating and looking to bring the right young people into UCF as well as our players,\u201d Dawkins said. \u201cThey care, they want to be really good, they want to win, and it starts with that.\u201d<\/p>\n On Feb. 28, Baylor University head coach Scott Drew told reporters at the press conference how impressed he was by the team and coach Dawkins’ leadership.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis is an unbelievable coaching job,\u201d Drew said. \u201cI know how hard it is to flip as many people as he did, and the fact that they\u2019ve had the year they\u2019ve had is a tribute to him.\u201d<\/p>\n Before the Big 12 conference on Dec. 17, at the postgame presser against Mercer, senior forward\u00a0Jamichael Stillwell<\/a>\u00a0and junior forward\u00a0Jordan Burks<\/a>\u00a0told reporters that the team’s identity\u00a0is \u201cdefense.\u201d<\/p>\n Burks said what makes this their defense so special is the accumulation of their length, physicality, toughness, and Stillwell. Burks said Stillwell is the “head of the snake” for the team’s defense and contributes a lot.<\/p>\n Burks said practices became a space for players to learn not only the system, but also each other. The Knights played against each other during practices, which Burks said helped him and others develop.<\/p>\n \u201cHe makes it where you are competing all the time, and that\u2019s what I love about coach,\u201d Burks said about coach Dawkins. \u201cHe makes it to where you can\u2019t be complacent at all.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n