Three Reasons Why UCF Basketball Fell On Senior Knight To Oklahoma State

The UCF Citronauts' home slate ended on a sour note Tuesday night, as Oklahoma State handed them another loss, 111-104, in overtime.

The loss marks back-to-back defeats to wrap up its 2025-26 season in Addition Finaicial Arena, leaving the 'Nauts with a 13-5 record on their home court. Though three of those five losses have come in their last four games.

Here are three reasons why UCF found itself on the losing end once again against the Cowboys:

1. Frontcourt Depth

UCF was already down one big man with center Jeremy Foumena getting ruled out 90 minutes before tip-off. While Elijah Hulsewe did step up with just nine minutes on the court to more than double his season's scoring total with nine points, it was one less forward that could allow others to rest and potentially not get into foul trouble.

Center John Bol was a perfect 5-5 from the floor, scoring 14 points and pulling in nine rebounds. However, from 8:15 left in the second half onward, which included a full five minutes of overtime, he played with four fouls. With no fouls left to give before he would have to be ejected, Bol could not be as aggressive as he otherwise might have been, taking some pressure off the Oklahoma State offense.

Meanwhile, forwards Jamichael Stillwell, Devan Cambridge and Jordan Burk both ended up struggling on offense.

Stillwell, who was a game-time decision with an injury, went 4-12 from the floor, his lowest shooting percentage since Jan. 17 against Arizona. Meanwhile, Burks, normally one of UCF's reliable shooters, struggled once again against the Cowboys. In Stillwater, he was scoreless from the floor, going 0-11. This time, he was 1-8. Even Cambridge only made one three-point shot in 13 minutes on the floor.

2. Free Throws

The Cowboys already held the mark for the most free-throw attempts by a UCF opponent this season, going into Tuesday night. They ended up surpassing it. In fact, both teams combined for 85 free-throw attempts and 52 fouls, including one on coach Johnny Dawkins himself.

"You know, I never blame officials for us not playing the way we should play, or as well as we should play," Dawkins said. "I'm just making sure I'm fighting for my guys, though. At the same time, I gotta fight for my team and what we're doing out there, and I'm just fighting for our team and, you know, I think the passion maybe just got a little too high, and, you know, I got teed up, you know."

The 'Nauts' 45 free-throw attempts are tied for the fifth-most in a single game in program history. It's the first time they've shot that many since 2018. While they made 33 of those shots, one more than Oklahoma State, the Cowboys had the higher free-throw percentage, 80%, compared to UCF's 73%.

3. Three-point Shooting

Just like in Stillwater, the Cowboys once again benefitted shooting from three against the Knights, though not to the same degree.

Last time, shot for its second-lowest three-point percentage in a game this season. While this time around was not the lowest, the 'Nauts' 31.8% is still their lowest since Feb. 8. Guard Carmelo Pacheco was the only UCF player to make more than half of his threes, going 2-3 from beyond the arc coming off the bench.

As for Oklahoma State, the last game between these two teams was one of four times UCF allowed a team to sink more than half of their threes. While the Cowboys only ended up going 9-23 from deep this time around, four of them came in the last 12:30 of the first half, which helped them not only come back from a 13-point deficit but also take the lead going into halftime. The 'Nauts are now 1-7 this season when trailing Big 12 opponents at halftime.

The Knights are set to conclude their regular season on the road in Morgantown on Friday at 8 p.m.

Catch up on more UCF news below:

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