Riley Kugel’s return would give UCF something it’s been chasing for years: a proven scorer who already knows the ropes in Orlando.
According to Monroe County court records, Kugel plans to come back to the Knights after landing a legal win on Sep. 23.
Judge Kara Kothe granted him an extra season of eligibility through a preliminary injunction, one of just under 100 athletes to get that relief. The NCAA has already filed a motion to stay the injunction, so nothing is locked in yet, but as of this article’s publication, Kugel is eligible to rejoin coach Johnny Dawkins’ team.
That matters because Kugel wasn’t just another piece last season after transferring from Mississippi State. He led UCF with 14.4 points per game, shot 38.7% from three, and finished with 78 assists, which ranked second on the team behind Themus Fulks’ 222 - a program single-season record.
If he does come back for what would be his second and final season with the Knights, the fit is pretty easy to see. UCF needs backcourt shooting, and Kugel gave them exactly that a year ago.
Among the Knights’ transfer additions, only former Wofford guard Cayden Vasko had enough volume from deep in 2025-26 to compare, and he hit 32.1% from three. Dawkins also brought back Carmelo Pacheco, who shot 39.4% from beyond the arc, but he was a bench role player last season who almost exclusively hunted threes.
With that role working, there’s a good chance Dawkins won’t want to disturb it.
The bigger picture is roster stability. Dawkins has spent the past several seasons piecing together almost entirely new groups, and last year was no different after graduation and the portal wiped out nearly all of the scoring from the 2024-25 team.
If Kugel returns, 30% of the points scored by UCF’s 2025-26 roster would be back for 2026-27. For a program that has lived through constant turnover, that’s a meaningful number.
It would also give center John Bol a familiar running mate. Bol is already confirmed to be back from last season’s main starting five, so Kugel’s presence would keep at least part of that core intact.
But there’s another side to this, and it shows up immediately in the backcourt battle. Without Kugel in the picture, three transfer guards look like the leading candidates to fight for starting spots: Vasko, Dior Johnson and Arturo Dean.
Vasko brings a little bit of everything. Last season he averaged 10.4 points and 4.5 rebounds, dished out 131 assists and earned All-SoCon Third Team honors.
Johnson arrives with some serious offensive punch after winning WAC Sixth Man of the Year and making All-WAC Second Team at Tarleton State; he averaged 24 points per game in just 20 appearances and started two of them. Dean is more of a disruptive force, finishing top 10 nationally in steals while at Oklahoma State in 2024-25 and adding 7.6 points, 3.1 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game.
All three can make a case for one of the two starting guard jobs, assuming Dawkins uses his revamped frontcourt to fill the other three spots. If Kugel returns and keeps his place, though, that suddenly becomes three guards fighting for one opening instead of two. How that would affect chemistry is anyone’s guess, but the pressure point is obvious.
The ripple effect could extend farther down the depth chart, too. Tanner Jones, Jahda Swann and Mister Dean could all see their minutes squeezed if Kugel is back, though their youth and limited playing time last season already put them behind the curve. Still, with UCF’s recent roster churn, every minute and every lineup choice gets noticed, especially once the transfer portal window opens again.
For now, Kugel has not been officially added to UCF’s 2026-27 roster. And with just under two weeks left before the Knights head to LSU for their first preseason exhibition game on Oct. 14, there’s still time for the injunction to be stayed or dissolved.
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