UCF Students Storm Court Twice Due to Late Foul Call in Upset of Texas Tech

A court storm is typically an event that a college student might experience once or twice during their time in school—if ever at all. However, every so often the momentum of a near-upset brings a student body onto the court or field, only for an ignored late whistle to drive them back into the stands, before they do it all over again moments later.

That was the case for UCF during its upset of Texas Tech in men’s basketball on Saturday afternoon.

The Knights were a 5.5-point home underdog against the No. 11 Red Raiders entering the afternoon, but put together a strong 40-minute effort on Saturday, leading for most of the game and the entire second half. With under two minutes remaining, Texas Tech got within two points, cutting the UCF lead to 81–79 on a JT Toppin basket, but the Knights scored seven unanswered points to put the game on ice.

The clock appeared to run out on the Red Raiders after a missed three by Christian Anderson, but before anyone realized that a foul was called by UCF guard Chris Johnson, hundreds of students clad in black, gold and the special “Canaveral Blue” used to celebrate the program’s Space Game on Saturday spilled onto the court.

We have a premature Court Storming in Orlando. UCF is about to knock off #11 Texas Tech but the refs have put 0.2 back on the clock pic.twitter.com/pyn09puKob
— NCAA Buzzer Beaters & Game Winners (@NCAABuzzerBters) January 31, 2026

Unfortunately, they were just a moment early. Officials had called a foul on Johnson, putting LeJuan Watts, who had rebounded Anderson’s miss, on the line for two free throws, though they were largely cosmetic. With a nine point deficit and just 0.2 seconds remaining, there was no way for TTU to tie the game. But first, those hundreds of students had to file back into their seats to watch the final moments play out.

Watts knocked down one of two free throws, the clock blew dead as the Knights inbounded the ball, and the UCF students returned to the floor, victorious at last.

UCF TAKES DOWN NO. 11 TEXAS TECH‼️

It's the Knights second top 25 win of the season 👏 pic.twitter.com/Dgex9CcRoq
— ESPN (@espn) January 31, 2026

Themus Fulks led a balanced effort by the Knights with 21 points and seven assists, with all five UCF starters scoring at least nine points. They overcame an impressive effort by Toppin, who led all scorers with 27 points while tying for a game-high 10 rebounds.

The Knights improve to a solid 17–4 with a 6–3 mark in the Big 12. In his most recent bracket watch, published Jan. 21, Sports Illustrated’s Kevin Sweeney had UCF slotted in as a No. 7 seed.

The Red Raiders fall to 16–5 with a 6–2 record in Big 12 play. Texas Tech was a No. 5 seed in Sweeney’s latest bracket update.

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