Three Key Takeaways From UCF's Throttling Of Towson
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The UCF Knights men's basketball team extended its active winning streak to seven games on Sunday night after taking care of Towson, 86-61.
The win gets the Knights out to an 8-1 start, their best of the Johnny Dawkins era.
Makin' moves 👀@Kia Electric Moment ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/GOqP1y9qfr
— UCF Knights 🌴 (@UCFKnights) December 8, 2025
Here are three key takeaways from the game:
1. Getting to the Free-Throw Line
Towson came into this game ranked 315th in the nation in free throws made per game, a fact the Knights exploited to create a 13-point swing over the Tigers at the charity stripe.
Forward Jamichael Stillwell got to the line the most, going a perfect 6-6, though guard George Beale Jr. was close behind at 5-5.
2. Picking You Up When You're Down
After scoring double-digit points in his first seven games, guard Riley Kugel had his first two games of the season with single-digit points back-to-back.
After missing all of his shots from the floor against VMI, guard Riley Kugel improved, but remained a low-percentage shooter against Towson, going 3-12, which is his second-lowest shooting percentage of the season.
However, while Kugel's early-season hot hand may have cooled off, the rest of his teammates have stepped up to fill the difference. Guard Themus Fulks had his best scoring game of the season, scoring 20 points while going 8-11 from the floor.
Plus, Kugel still found ways to contribute, particularly on defense, where he picked up two blocks.
3. Second Half Defense
After limiting the Tigers to just 27 points in the first half, the Tigers came roaring out of the gate in the second, keeping up in near lockstep with the UCF offense.
However, once the shots stopped ringing out later in the half, the Knights were finally able to build off some more separation, though not much.)
Despite having preseason All-CAA First Teamers in Tyler Tejada and Dylan Williamson and a premier rebounder in Caleb Embeya, the Knights' defense had answers for all three of them. Both Tejada and Williamson spent the majority of their night shooting from three-point range, going 4-16 from beyond the arc and 11-24 overall. As for Embeya, he ended up getting into foul trouble and only saw 13 minutes on the court.
While it was not a full 20-minute defensive performance, the Knights managed to adjust and quash any Tiger hope of a comeback.
The Knights have another break of over a week before hosting Mercer on Dec. 17 at 7 p.m.
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Bryson Turner is a sports journalist who covers UCF Athletics. Turner has contributed to the Black and Gold Banneret, the home for UCF Athletics on SB Nation. He has called the Orlando area home since the age of 8 and received his bachelor's and master's degrees from UCF.
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