Riley Kugel’s UCF return came with an immediate spark.
Less than two minutes into Sunday’s exhibition against Rollins College at Addition Financial Arena, Kugel knocked down a jump shot near the top of the key and drew a loud reaction from the several hundred fans in the building. It was his first collegiate basket since UCF’s 75-71 loss to UCLA in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on March 20.
Kugel’s path back to the Knights has been an unusual one. After going undrafted, he signed a summer league contract with the Los Angeles Clippers before an Indiana Circuit Court judge’s injunction created an opening for him to return for another year of eligibility.
Back in black and gold, the Dr. Phillips High School product finished with eight points and three rebounds in 17 minutes as UCF held off Rollins 80-74.
Johnny Dawkins saw enough to call it a useful test.
“It was a great game for us,” said coach Johnny Dawkins. “They have a really good three-point shooting team, so I knew it was going to really test our defense, stretch us and put us into awkward positions.”
Dior Johnson paced the Knights with 19 points. Arturo Dean added 11, and Isaiah Malone chipped in 10.
Rollins had its own scoring punch, with Jackson Gaffney finishing with 18 points, Kayne Jones scoring 15 and Austin Cripe contributing 11.
The exhibition also gave UCF another chance to sort through a roster that is still coming together. The Knights already played one preseason tune-up at LSU on Oct. 14, falling 85-81, and they have another one coming Wednesday against Kentucky at 6 p.m. on SECN+.
UCF used every available player except guard Cayden Vasko, who rested, and forward Ladarius Givan, who was out with an injury.
“Before our first game, I want to continue to learn more and more about our roster, more and more about what guys play the best together, more and more about rotations,” said Dawkins. “This is what we’re trying to pick up in these three exhibition games before we start the regular season.”
Dawkins also noted that Kugel will need time to get back into the rhythm of playing every day.
“Riley will be ready to compete,” Dawkins said. “When you’ve been away from it, your mindset hadn’t been the mindset of the guys that have been training and conditioning. It’s going to take some time for him to get his legs back under him to the level he was last year.
“That’s a process, but he’s a worker, so he’ll get in the gym, put the time in and it’ll come around.”
UCF begins the regular season at home against Florida Gulf Coast University on Nov. 2 at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.
In Other News...
UCFs Quarterback Picture Just Got Much More Interesting
The quarterback situation in Orlando has settled, at least for the moment, behind Keyone Jenkins. After UCFs upset of No. 2 BYU, Scott Frost named Jenkins the starter, rewarding a stretch in which the signal caller has posted consecutive games with more than 200 passing yards and multiple touchdowns while helping fuel the Knights recent surge.
Still, the picture is hardly static. Jenkins has earned the job with his playmaking and poise, but Alonza Barnett III is moving back toward availability, which keeps the conversation around the position very much alive. For a UCF offense that has found some rhythm, the next question is how long this momentum holds and how Frost manages the depth chart as the roster gets healthier. [Read more 🡒]
BYU Fans Have Every Reason To Be Furious After That Finish
The fallout from Saturdays BYU-UCF finish is still carrying beyond the game itself, with the Big 12 admitting there were officiating mistakes in recent college football games. For UCF, the broader issue is the same one that has been hanging over the sport all season: administrative errors can swing a game just as much as anything that happens between the lines, and this one landed in a spot where every detail mattered.
Rece Davis called out the growing number of those kinds of mistakes, saying the conference needs to clean them up, and it is hard to argue with the frustration around that kind of public correction. The BYU game also fits into a bigger pattern of controversial officiating decisions that have already drawn attention this fall, including an eye-catching Week 1 ruling in the Big Ten, which only adds to the sense that college footballs officiating standards are under the microscope again. [Read more 🡒]
Tyren Hornes May Have Changed UCFs Offense In One Night
Tyren Hornes entered the night as one of the more intriguing young pieces in UCFs receiver room, and he left it looking like the kind of freshman who can change how an offense is defended. In the upset of BYU, Hornes kept showing up at the biggest moments, giving the Knights a vertical threat and a reliable target when the game tightened late.
What stood out was not just the volume of his involvement, but how central he became to UCFs approach in a high-pressure setting. Since his recruitment, Hornes has carried the profile of a player with real impact potential, and this performance only sharpened the question of how much more the Knights can build around him as the season unfolds. [Read more 🡒]