UCF goes wire to wire in blowout upset of No. 19 BYU
Themus Fulks scored 24 points and handed out 11 assists to lead hot-shooting UCF to a 97-84 upset win over No. 19 BYU on Tuesday in Provo, Utah.
Jordan Burks also rang up 24 points, Jamichael Stillwell contributed 12 points and 12 rebounds and George Beale Jr. pitched in 10 points for UCF (20-7, 9-6 Big 12), which won its third straight game.
UCF never trailed in the game and led by as much as 36 points. The Knights shot 56.3% from the floor and 58.3% (14 of 24) from 3-point distance.
AJ Dybantsa led BYU (20-8, 8-7) with 29 points and eight rebounds. Robert Wright III tallied 20 points and seven assists, and Aleksej Kostic pitched in 14 points as the Cougars lost for the sixth time in nine games.
Even though UCF played its second straight game without Riley Kugel, who has an undisclosed injury, the Knights burst out to a 14-4 lead. Stillwell and Chris Jonson drilled 3-pointers in the game-opening run.
A Wright layup snapped the Knights' 9-0 rally, but Burks canned three consecutive treys to put UCF up 23-8. Dybantsa had seven of the first 13 BYU points, but the Cougars trailed 25-13.
UCF opened a 45-25 edge on a corner 3-pointer from Fulks. He scored the Knights' last 10 points of the half, and UCF was on top 52-28 at the break.
In the first half, the Knights shot 68.8% (11 of 16) from 3-point range and 57.1% on field-goal attempts. BYU hit 31.4% (11 of 35) from the floor and 27.3% (3 of 11) from beyond the arc.
John Bol made sure UCF picked up where it left off, opening the second-half scoring with a pair of dunks sandwiched around his jump-shot hoop. The Knights had it on cruise control with a 15-0 run that spanned both halves, taking a 64-28 lead.
Fulks assisted on all three Bol buckets. The Knights had 25 assists, while the Cougars tallied 11.
Beale splashed in back-to-back threes and UCF led 70-35 with 13:49 remaining.
A Dybantsa trey cut the gap to 87-70 with 3:18 to play, but the closest BYU got after that was a 13-point deficit in the final minute.