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Shandel Richardson
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Updated at Jan 28, 2026, 12:04
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The UCF Knights are hoping to build off Tuesday's comeback victory against the Arizona State Sun Devils

The UCF Knights are gaining a reputation as a team that refuses to quit regardless of the score. 

On Tuesday, they displayed that comeback capability again by rallying from a late-game, double-digit deficit to defeat the Arizona State Sun Devils 79-76. The win improved the Knights to 16-4 overall and 5-3 in the Big 12. 

"Just proud of our guys," UCF coach Johnny Dawkins said. "We beat a very good basketball team. Again, I've seen Bobby's teams over the years and how well they play, how skilled they are. I'm just proud of our guys effort, especially down the stretch. We found a way. We had to dig deep. We've had to do that a number of times this year. They've shown the ability to do that. The one thing about them is they still believe that we have a chance as long as there's a second on the clock and they just keep fighting. We did it again." 

UCF trailed 70-58 with 6 minutes, 9 seconds remaining before launching the comeback. After a 14-2 run, Jordan Burks hit a 3-pointer to put the Knights ahead. 

"Just really proud they have a will to win," Dawkins said. "They keep competing. You find a way when you do that. You're not going to make shots every night and I try to instill that in our guys every season. You're not going to have a good shooting night every night. It's that going to be your excuse that you can't a basketball game because you didn't make shots like you want to. Tonight it a perfect example. We didn't shoot it as well as we have shot it so you have to find another way. I'm glad these guys believed in a system enough."

The best thing about all of this is Dawkins feels the team hasn't reached its peak. He thinks the Knights can reach another level. 

"We're getting there," Dawkins said. "We working toward who we're going to become. We're still not a finished product yet, but I do think the guys believe. As long as they believe, we can keep working in improving in practice." 

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Shandel Richardson is the publisher of UCFRoundtable. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com