UCF coach Johnny Dawkins brought back Dior Johnson for another season, and the move quickly paid dividends in a thrilling overtime win in the team’s opener.
The Knights (1-0) hope for a little less drama when they face Yale (1-0) on Friday night in Orlando, Fla.
Johnson, who played for Dawkins and the Knights in 2024-25, scored 22 of his 41 points in the second half as UCF escaped with a 96-95 victory on Monday against Florida Gulf Coast, which forced overtime on a layup in the final seconds.
Johnson played last season at Tarleton State, where he shot 53.8% from 3-point range and averaged 24 points per game.
“So much fun this summer watching how he’s grown and developed,” Dawkins said of Johnson, who averaged 2.9 points during his first season at UCF. “He’s a very uncommon young man. I don’t think most of the kids in the country would have come back to the place that they left.”
Johnson helped to ignite a 7-0 run to start the extra session and then finished the victory with four crucial points.
“We let Dior just crush us,” Eagles coach Patrick Chambers said after the game. “We knew what he liked to do. We’ve watched him very closely for years. He knows how to get the refs’ calls. … He’s a great player, and when they needed a big shot, he made big shots.”
Johnson converted 13 of 15 field goals and 11 of 15 free throws, including two with 17 seconds left for a 96-92 lead.
Yale, meanwhile, opened its season with a 72-62 home win over Howard on Monday as Riley Fox led four scorers in double figures with 19 points and Daniel Ogunyemi and Courtney Wallace each snagged 11 rebounds.
Fox, who averaged 10 points a game last season as a sixth man, said his summer workouts with Wallace helped him to prepare for a larger role this season.
“Just trying to guard him because he’s pretty quick,” Fox said.