National Basketball Association
Central Florida 86, Florida State 74
When: 9:00 PM ET, Saturday, December 19, 2020
Where: Donald L. Tucker Center, Tallahassee, Florida
Officials:
# Mike Roberts, # Jeffrey Anderson, # John Gaffney
Attendance:
2576
By Field Level Media
Senior guard Brandon Mahan scored a career-high 32 points as the visiting UCF Knights pulled off an historic 86-74 upset over the 15th-ranked Florida State Seminoles on Saturday night at Tallahassee, Fla.
UCF (2-1), which hadn't played since Dec. 6 due in part to a COVID-19 cancellation, snapped FSU's 27-game home winning streak. UCF also broke FSU's streak of 41 consecutive wins in home games against nonconference opponents and dealt the Seminoles (4-1) their first loss of the season.
In addition, this was UCF's first-ever win over FSU, following 11 losses.
The Knights also got 22 points and a game-high eight rebounds from freshman Isaiah Adams -- who was Florida's Mr. Basketball last season -- and 20 points from Darin Green Jr. as UCF produced just its eighth win ever over a ranked team.
Mahan made 10 of 13 attempts from the floor, including 2 of 4 3-point attempts, and went 10 of 10 on free-throw attempts.
UCF got a boost as point guard Darius Perry made his Knights debut. Perry, a graduate-transfer from Louisville, had six points.
FSU was led by M.J. Walker's 22 points. RaiQuan Gray and Anthony Polite added 14 points each. Teammate Scottie Barnes -- a freshman projected as an NBA lottery pick in 2021 -- had eight points, three rebounds and three assists. He made just 3 of 8 attempts from the floor.
FSU, which led by as many as 10 points in the first half, settled for a 39-34 advantage at the break -- but only after the Knights pulled off a 13-0 run.
Adams helped keep UCF in the game in those opening 20 minutes by scoring 16 points, including making 7 of 9 free-throw attempts and sinking 4 of 8 attempts from the floor.
Perry's layup with 7:31 left in the second half gave UCF its largest lead of the game to that point, 67-58.
A steal and layup by Perry gave UCF an even bigger lead at 76-66 with 1:46 left, and the Knights cruised from there.
For the game, the Knights shot 50 percent from the floor, 47.4 percent on 3-pointers (9 of 19) and 88.5 percent (23 for 26) on free-throw attempts.
--Field Level Media
Top Game Performances
| Central Florida |
|
Florida State |
|
Brandon Mahan 32 |
Scoring |
M.J. Walker 22 |
|
Dre Fuller Jr. 4 |
Assists |
Scottie Barnes 3 |
|
Isaiah Adams 8 |
Rebounds |
Anthony Polite 6 |
|
Brandon Mahan 10 |
Free Throws Made |
M.J. Walker 6 |
|
Isaiah Adams 3 |
Steals |
Raiquan Gray 2 |
|
C.J. Walker 3 |
Blocks |
Balsa Koprivica 1 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Central Florida
|
86 |
50.0 |
9-19 |
23-26 |
11 |
29 |
3 |
6 |
13 |
| Florida State
|
74 |
47.1 |
10-23 |
16-26 |
11 |
24 |
3 |
5 |
14 |