UCF drops a heartbreaker in home finale, losing to Oklahoma State

Matt Murschel, Orlando Sentinel on Mar 3, 2026

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

ORLANDO, Fla. — Nobody said getting to the NCAA Tournament would be easy.

UCF is finding that out the hard way as the Knights dropped a heartbreaker to Oklahoma State in overtime, 111-104, on Tuesday night. It was the second consecutive loss for the Knights, who still remain in the hunt for an elusive berth in the NCAA Tournament.

On Saturday, UCF rallied from 15 points before eventually losing to Baylor on a controversial foul in the final seconds, 87-86.

Themus Fulks scored a team-high 20 points as UCF (20-9, 9-8 Big 12) fell to 13-5 at Addition Financial Arena this season.

“It’s two tough losses, but if we just buy into more on practice, it would really help us … benefit us,” guard Riley Kugel said.

It was especially disappointing considering it was Senior Night, as Jamichael Stillwell, Poopha Warakulnukroh, Devan Cambridge, George Beale Jr., Kugel and Fulks were honored before the game.

Oklahoma State (18-12, 6-11) won for the second time in the past three games.

Senior guard Anthony Roy led the Cowboys with 26 points, including 3 for 7 from 3-point range.

“They’re a good offensive team and they have a lot of firepower,” coach Johnny Dawkins said. “We did a good job of building the lead and we got out of character. I thought we took a couple ill-advised shots.”

It was also UCF’s annual Space Game celebration with the Knights’ players proudly wearing their Canaveral Blue uniforms. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to carry the team to a win.

UCF blasted off from the first tip, connecting on six of its first eight field goals, sprinting out to a 13-7 advantage over Oklahoma State. The Knights were hitting on all cylinders, fueled by seven early points by center John Bol.

Everyone was getting into the scoring act for UCF.

Redshirt junior center Elijah Hulsewe, playing in place of an injured Jeremy Foumena, scored six points in a row while grabbing a pair of early rebounds as the Knights built a double-digit lead with 13:54 left in the first half. Hulsewe finished with nine points and four rebounds in nine minutes.

Oklahoma State, meanwhile, went nearly three minutes without a point before scoring 16 of the next 21 points, cutting the lead to 28-26 with 7:57 in the first half. The Cowboys tied the game at 31 on a 3-pointer by Jaylen Curry at the 5:39 mark before a layup and a 3-pointer by Kugel, which helped the Knights retake the lead.

But a 35-17 run by Oklahoma State over the final 12 minutes helped the Cowboys take a 45-40 lead into halftime.

It was a back-and-forth affair to start the second half, with both teams trading mini-runs as OSU continued to hold a slight advantage.

UCF took its first lead since the 3:24 mark in the first half when Kugel connected on a 3-pointer from the top of the key to make it 56-54.

Oklahoma State retook the lead after back-to-back shooting fouls were called on the Knights. The second foul drew the ire of Dawkins, who was assessed a technical foul after stepping on the court to argue with officials.

“I’m just making sure I’m fighting for my guys,” Dawkins said. “I’ve got to fight for my team and that’s what I was doing out there. The passion may have just gotten a little too high, and I got teed up.”

There were a combined 52 fouls called in the game, with both teams combining for 85 free-throw attempts.

UCF rallied from five points down with 58 seconds left to tie the game at 94 thanks to Chris Johnson’s 3-pointer at the top of the key with 11 seconds remaining.

Oklahoma State had a chance to win the game, but Jaylen Curry’s floater rolled off the basket and Anthony Roy’s shot at the buzzer was partially blocked by Bol, sending the game into overtime.

The Knights tied the game again at 100 with 2:31 left in overtime, but failed to get any closer as Oklahoma State would run away with the win.

UCF wraps up the regular season with a road contest at West Virginia on Friday (8 p.m., CBSSN). The Big 12 Tournament begins on March 10 at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City.