National Basketball Association
Central Florida 64, Texas A&M 61
When: 7:00 PM ET, Monday, November 4, 2024
Where: Addition Financial Arena, Orlando, Florida
Officials:
# Rick Crawford, # Tony Padilla, # Chris Merlo
Attendance:
8808
By Field Level Media
Benny Williams scored his only points on a go-ahead dunk with 45 seconds left and UCF erased a nine-point deficit in the final five minutes to upset No. 13 Texas A&M 64-61 Monday night in Orlando in the season opener for both teams.
UCF fans stormed the court after A&M missed three attempts at a tying 3-pointer on the game's final possession after Jordan Ivy-Curry split a pair of free throws with 15 seconds left.
The Knights (1-0) closed with a 14-2 run to stun the Aggies (0-1), who led most of the game and pushed their lead to 59-50 on Wade Taylor IV's 3-pointer from the UCF logo with 4:52 left.
UCF senior guard Darius Johnson scored a game-high 24 points and dished five assists, including to Williams for the winning points. Ivy-Curry, a transfer from UTSA, added 16 points and J.J. Taylor, whose putback dunk with 1:31 left cut A&M's lead to 61-60, contributed 10.
Pharrel Payne led the Aggies with 15 points. He also grabbed six rebounds before fouling out with 3:11 left. Taylor IV tallied 13 points and seven assists.
After Johnson sank a tie-breaking 3-pointer 17 seconds into the second half, Taylor made back-to-back 3-pointers to trigger a 20-7 run.
UCF scored only seven points during a span of nearly 10 minutes, but the Knights rallied to pull off the upset.
The teams entered the break tied at 29 after UCF took its first lead with 3:19 left on Ivy Curry's 3-pointer.
The Knights started slow. They didn't score their first points of the season until more than four minutes had elapsed and missed 11 of their first 13 shots, including 0-for-7 from 3-point range. They made six of their next nine from behind the arc, though, and eventually erased a 10-point deficit.
Texas A&M mustered only four points the final seven minutes of the half.
--Field Level Media
Top Game Performances
| Texas A&M |
|
Central Florida |
|
Pharrel Payne 15 |
Scoring |
Darius Johnson 24 |
|
Wade Taylor IV 7 |
Assists |
Darius Johnson 5 |
|
Solomon Washington 9 |
Rebounds |
Jordan Ivy-Curry 5 |
|
Pharrel Payne 3 |
Free Throws Made |
Darius Johnson 7 |
|
Henry Coleman III 1 |
Steals |
Darius Johnson 3 |
|
Andersson Garcia 1 |
Blocks |
Moustapha Thiam 6 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Texas A&M
|
61 |
36.5 |
7-23 |
8-14 |
13 |
42 |
3 |
4 |
12 |
| Central Florida
|
64 |
34.0 |
8-26 |
22-31 |
13 |
24 |
10 |
9 |
11 |
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