Men's Basketball Falls to UCF in Opening Round of Big 12 Championship

Tuesday, March 11

Kansas City, MO / T-Mobile Center

7:30 PM

University of Utah

16-16,8-12Big 12

UCF

17-15,7-13Big 12

Team	1	2	F
UCF	39	48	87
Utah	40	32	72

Photo by: Anna Fuder/Utah Athletics

Men's Basketball Falls to UCF in Opening Round of Big 12 Championship

3/11/2025 11:06 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Highlights Keanu Dawes Highlights Condensed Game Postgame Presser Photo Gallery

The Utah men’s basketball team dropped its opening game of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship to UCF, 87-72.

KANSAS CITY – The 11th-seeded Utah men's basketball team lost its opening round game of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship to 14th-seeded UCF Tuesday night, 87-72, inside T-Mobile Center.

The Runnin' Utes (16-16) got out to a hot start and took a 14-7 lead at the under-12 media break (11:57) thanks to a 14-3 run that was fueled by Utah's passing where it assisted on 5 of its first 7 baskets. That lead would get as high as 21-9 after a jam from Zack Keller, before UCF slowly clawed back to cut Utah's lead down to 28-25 with 4:22 left in the frame.

The game would see-saw the rest of the half before a last-minute 3-ball from UCF saw Utah hang onto a 40-39 lead at the break – its first lead the half since Feb. 15 when it led then-No. 17 Kansas 39-37 at home.

UCF (17-15) found its offensive rhythm in the second-half and hit the Utes with a 14-2 blitz to put Utah behind 53-42 at the 15:52 media break. Utah's scoring drought continued with the Knights outscoring the Utes 22-3 before the Utes called their second timeout of the half with 13:27 left to play.

Keller would finally connect down low to give Utah just its second field-goal of the half and ended a 6:04 drought between the two field-goals as it trailed UCF 63-45.

Down, but not out, Utah mounted its run with a cranked-up defense to force a pair of turnovers that helped it go on an 11-4 run to bring it within 67-58 with 9:04 left to play after a steal and 3-pointer from Miro Little. However, that timeout proved to be effective for the Knights – who answered with a 7-0 run to push their lead back up to 74-58 heading into the 6:48 media timeout.

The Runnin' Utes made another push to cut into the UCF lead, cutting its deficit down to 79-68 behind a 10-2 spurt heading into the final media timeout (3:33). Utah would get as close as 79-70 shortly thereafter on its next possession but it was too little too late with UCF closing out the game with an 8-2 run.

Keanu Dawes, who finished with a double-double, posted a team-high and career-high 21 points on 15 rebounds with 2 assists and 2 steals. Lawson Lovering added 11 points and 5 boards of his own while Gabe Madsen finished with 10 points, 4 rebounds and 3 steals to round out the double-digit scoring.

POSTGAME NOTES

Keanu Dawes was a monster on the glass early on, pulling down 10 rebounds in the first 20 minutes of play
Utah dominated the paint in the first half with a 24-13 edge on the glass with 28 points in the paint
Keanu Dawes recorded his third double-double in five games when he threw it down with two hands at the 12:22 mark to give himself 11 points and 12 rebounds at that point in the game
Keanu Dawes finished the game with 21 points and 15 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season
Utah dominated the paint, outscoring UCF 42-26
Utah also won the battle of the glass 40-36 – including an 18-8 edge on the offensive glass
Utah allowed UCF to shoot .547 from the field and .417 from 3-point range

UP NEXT
The Runnin' Utes will now officially wait to see if it'll be one of the two automatic bids or earn an at-large bid from the Big 12 Conference in the newly created College Basketball Crown postseason tournament in Las Vegas, Nev., March 31 – April 6 between the Elite 8 and Final 4.

For the latest news and information on the Runnin' Utes men's basketball program, fans can stay connected online at www.UtahUtes.com and on social media by following @UtahMBB on Facebook, X and Instagram. Fans can also stay connected on their mobile devices or tablets with the Utah 360, the official app of Utah Athletics, through the Apple Store or Google Play.

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