Jordan Burks scored 18 of his 21 points in the second half and UCF rallied from down 14 with just over 12 minutes left in an 86-74 win at Texas A&M on Friday night in College Station, Texas.
The Knights (3-1) beat the Aggies for the second straight year, as they opened the 2024-25 season with a 3-point home win. That game ended on a 12-1 run and history nearly repeated itself, as UCF outscored A&M 40-14 during a 10-minute stretch in the second half this evening.
Burks was 7 of 11 from the field and 5 of 7 from 3-point range while Carmelo Pacheco had 15 on 5-of-6 shooting from deep. Burks converted all eight of his shot attempts in the second half, including four from 3-point range and two free throws.
Themus Fulks scored 11 points and added nine assists.
UCF shot 50% overall and was 14 of 28 from behind the arc.
Texas A&M (2-2) had six players in double figures, led by Marcus Hill’s 14 and a career-high 12 from Zach Clemence, but shot only 36.8% in losing for the second time this season to a Big 12 school. The Aggies fell 87-63 at Oklahoma State in their previous game.
Tied at 30 at halftime, Texas A&M opened up a 52-38 lead with 13:19 left thanks to an 11-0 run. The Aggies, which shot 26.7% in the first half and missed 12 of 15 from inside the arc, began the second half 7 of 11.
A&M surpassed its first-half scoring with 10:02 remaining but then went scoreless for more than two minutes, with UCF countering with an 11-0 run to get within 61-59 with 7:42 to go.
The Knights tied it a minute later and built a 70-65 lead on a Carmelo Pacheco 3-pointer with 5:16 left. Two more Pacheco treys upped the lead to 78-67 with 2:42 remaining.
A 10-0 run helped Texas A&M build a 7-point lead midway through the first half. Six straight points by Clemence upped the margin to 26-18 with 4:44 left before halftime.
Back-to-back 3-pointers, the latter by Pacheco, put UCF up 30-28 in the final minute of the half.
Rashaun Agee scored 13 points and added a team-high eight rebounds for the Aggies.
