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Duke Basketball: UCF to have familiar faces and threats for Blue Devils

By Kevin Connelly

COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA - MARCH 22: Head coach Johnny Dawkins of the UCF Knights reacts against the Virginia Commonwealth Rams in the first half during the first round of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Colonial Life Arena on March 22, 2019 in Columbia, South Carolina. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA - MARCH 22: Head coach Johnny Dawkins of the UCF Knights reacts against the Virginia Commonwealth Rams in the first half during the first round of the 2019 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at Colonial Life Arena on March 22, 2019 in Columbia, South Carolina. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /
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The Duke Basketball team will face the UCF Knights on Sunday late afternoon in the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament, and the Knights will present some familiar faces and threats for the Blue Devils.

It’s the Round of 32 in the NCAA Tournament for the Duke Blue Devils and on the other side of the court will be the UCF Knights.

The Knights are led by a very, very familiar face in head coach Johnny Dawkins.

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From 1982-1986, Dawkins played for Duke and Mike Krzyzewski and was the No. 10 overall pick in the 1986 NBA Draft by the San Antonio Spurs.

While at Duke, Dawkins was named as the Naismith Player of the Year in 1986, two time First Team All-American, and All-ACC, and his No. 24 is hanging in the rafters of Cameron Indoor Stadium after averaging 19.2 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 4.2 assists per game.

After his playing career, Dawkins returned to Duke and was an assistant coach from 1998-2008, before being named as the head coach of Stanford.

In 2016, Dawkins moved from Stanford to UCF and has since brought the Knights to a national relevance.

This season, UCF has a 24-8 record, finishing at 13-5 in the American Athletic Conference.

The Knights fell to the Memphis Tigers in its first game int he AAC Tournament, but still earned a No. 9 seed in the NCAA Tournament and defeated the VCU Rams on Friday night.

On Friday night, the Knights were led by 15 points from B.J. Taylor and 14 points, seven rebounds, and three assists from Aubrey Dawkins, Johnny’s son.

However, whenever someone speaks of the UCF Knights, the first name that comes to mind is the 7-foot-6-inch monster, Takco Fall.

Fall had 13 points and 18 rebounds on Friday night against the Rams.

Taylor, Dawkins, and Fall all led the Knights in scoring on the season, yet despite his size, Fall only averages 7.7 rebounds per game.

As a team, the Knights shoot 35.4% from the 3-point line and 46.3% from the field, but a very low 64.5% from the free throw line.

Duke has faced a player like Fall before this season in Florida State’s 7-foot-4-inch Christ Koumadje.

In his two games against Duke this season Koumadje only had four points and three rebounds in just nine minutes in the ACC Championship game, but in the first meeting, he had seven points and four rebounds in 15 minutes.

Duke and UCF will tipoff at 5:15pm ET from Columbia, South Carolina and the game can be seen on CBS.

Stay tuned to Ball Durham on Twitter, @Ball_Durham, and here at our website, balldurham.com, for complete coverage of the Duke Blue Devils vs. the University of Central Florida Knights.

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